[ExI] Peer review reviewed

[Darin Sunley]

In a related story, and one of the most spectacular examples I've seen
recently of attempting to bandaid over a sucking chest wound, New York City
has "banned" students [and, for some reason, teachers] from using ChatGPT
[which is to say practically, accessing it on school networks].

https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3p9jx/nyc-bans-students-and-teachers-from-using-chatgpt

It's an interesting dynamic for educational institutions. right now they
perform two separate functions - they teach, and they assess the learning,
awarding credentials based on the assessment. [It's been widely argued that
it's a conflict of interest for one institution to perform both functions,
but here we are.]

Educational institutions are highly incentivized to, and have found ways to
exploit significant economies of scale in both areas. They can teach large
numbers of students quickly using large lecture halls, videos, automated
educational software, etc. On the assessment side, they have been able to
assess large numbers of students quickly and economically using large-hall
examinations,  scantron bubble readers, and of course, essays.  It's this
latter function that is under attack. Schools, colleges, and universities
are about to experience a significant disconnect between how many students
they can economically teach, vs. how many they can economically assess and
award credentials to. It will be telling to see which side they, and the
students, care most about.

If essays are trivially generatable, they are no longer a good assessment
of education. Anybody trying to assess education, for positions where it
really matters or to award a valuable credential, is probably going to need
to fall back to the long-form interview.Just as it is an interesting
philosophical question as to whether a tree falling, absent an observer,
creates sound qualia, we find ourselves forced to ask - if a credential is
easily fakeable, why should we care about it?



On Thu, Jan 5, 2023 at 3:05 PM Gadersd via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> Our highly competitive formal education system leads children to associate
> learning with stress. The inflexible system for scientific research
> dissemination sucks the pleasure out of scientific writing and results in
> tedious papers that are painful to read.
>
> Learning should be inherently pleasant and self motivated, not stressful.
> Science should incite curiosity and wonder, not conjure tedium.
>
> Technology is bringing change. Instructors can no longer flay students
> with mind-numbing busywork assignments as solutions can often be found
> online and AI technology such as ChatGPT is now capable of solving most
> problems students are faced with. Large language models are becoming better
> and better and are now capable of intelligently assisting with all forms of
> writing, eliminating much of the tedium. The days of pain will no longer be
> plenty.
>
> On Jan 5, 2023, at 2:55 PM, Dan TheBookMan via extropy-chat <
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
>
> <24ab2184-c024-44c5-81cc-4bc14851b965_1762x1173.jpeg>
>
> The rise and fall of peer review
> <https://experimentalhistory.substack.com/p/the-rise-and-fall-of-peer-review>
> experimentalhistory.substack.com
> <https://experimentalhistory.substack.com/p/the-rise-and-fall-of-peer-review>
>
> <https://experimentalhistory.substack.com/p/the-rise-and-fall-of-peer-review>
>
> No problems that can’t be fixed?
>
> Regards,
>
> Dan
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>
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