Yes, degrees are credentials and sadly many people just want those instead of having any inherent interest.
But no, because those credentials are not empty words, but are supposed to mean something. You might not need to know about the industrial revolution in your job (and looking at the way our world develops right now, I would say industrial revolution and its changes in society are very relevant right now), but the credential for it is supposed to show that you are able to learn about a topic, read relevant literature and then apply that knowledge in analysing things. THAT is the goal of going to college. And most jobs (edit: that really require a certain college degree) need exactly that kind of skill. Which students don’t learn if they let a probability machine do the “thinking” for them.
Ok, but just to play daivels advocate: If you can’t tell they are cheating without tricks, can’t they do that learn+read+apply thingie using AI just as well???
I think for some things it will work out, but as we are seeing with programming: the problem isn’t apparent in surface level, but in real understanding. And if a certain task need an understanding to apply knowledge, LLM can’t help with that.
No, that’s the point of the credential for the employer. For the student, the credential is just a box you need to check that lets employers filter out the people they don’t want, and why would the student give a shit about that?
No, what you said is that the credentials are supposed to mean something, as if they mean something to everyone equally.
They don’t. They only mean something to the employer, to the student they mean time and money but not much else. For the student the point of the credential is to trick your employer into hiring you, and then you just have to keep tricking them into not firing you. People do it all the time, and they’re a pain to work with, but in that way cheating is training them for their career.
Now you’re right that there are real jobs, where being able to learn actually matters, but a lot of jobs are bullshit. A business major that’s going to fail upwards their entire lives will never need to learn anything. They could probably be illiterate and get away with it.
These comments seem to be rooted in a jaded perspective of the world.
For instance if you didn’t have a degree in say material sciences, I wouldn’t hire you to work on plasma containment engineering for a fusion reactor. And if you felt your degree in the field was meaningless, then why are you trying to get into this field where you had to put so much effort into getting into it?
Because I’ll get paid money to do it. I went to college because all the growns up said i would make twice as much money and now im watching people who failed out high school make five times the money im making in the same company because they went into sales with no degree.
We have to go back to what college always was: a luxury for rich people who want to give their kids a good time learning the classics before a lifetime of work. It simply doesn’t make sense to go into debt for college, if it’s something like medicine, then the government should be paying your way through school so you can save countless lives during your career.
Yes and no.
Yes, degrees are credentials and sadly many people just want those instead of having any inherent interest.
But no, because those credentials are not empty words, but are supposed to mean something. You might not need to know about the industrial revolution in your job (and looking at the way our world develops right now, I would say industrial revolution and its changes in society are very relevant right now), but the credential for it is supposed to show that you are able to learn about a topic, read relevant literature and then apply that knowledge in analysing things. THAT is the goal of going to college. And most jobs (edit: that really require a certain college degree) need exactly that kind of skill. Which students don’t learn if they let a probability machine do the “thinking” for them.
Right, they’re supposed to mean something
Ok, but just to play daivels advocate: If you can’t tell they are cheating without tricks, can’t they do that learn+read+apply thingie using AI just as well???
That’s the question, isn’t it?
I think for some things it will work out, but as we are seeing with programming: the problem isn’t apparent in surface level, but in real understanding. And if a certain task need an understanding to apply knowledge, LLM can’t help with that.
Shit, this also reminds me of Manna, a short story about AI that starts out by micromanaging workers. In a way that is what LLMs are doing here.
Interesting story, thanks for sharing. Let’s hope something like the Australia Project is possible in our future and not only Manna.
Pro-tip: If you’re young, immigrate to Taiwan and get citizenship, then you’ll eventually be annexed by China during the collapse lol.
No, that’s the point of the credential for the employer. For the student, the credential is just a box you need to check that lets employers filter out the people they don’t want, and why would the student give a shit about that?
That’s what I said?
Because if the job really needs those skills than that student better learns fast or is fucked and will lose the job.
No, what you said is that the credentials are supposed to mean something, as if they mean something to everyone equally.
They don’t. They only mean something to the employer, to the student they mean time and money but not much else. For the student the point of the credential is to trick your employer into hiring you, and then you just have to keep tricking them into not firing you. People do it all the time, and they’re a pain to work with, but in that way cheating is training them for their career.
Now you’re right that there are real jobs, where being able to learn actually matters, but a lot of jobs are bullshit. A business major that’s going to fail upwards their entire lives will never need to learn anything. They could probably be illiterate and get away with it.
These comments seem to be rooted in a jaded perspective of the world.
For instance if you didn’t have a degree in say material sciences, I wouldn’t hire you to work on plasma containment engineering for a fusion reactor. And if you felt your degree in the field was meaningless, then why are you trying to get into this field where you had to put so much effort into getting into it?
Because I’ll get paid money to do it. I went to college because all the growns up said i would make twice as much money and now im watching people who failed out high school make five times the money im making in the same company because they went into sales with no degree.
We have to go back to what college always was: a luxury for rich people who want to give their kids a good time learning the classics before a lifetime of work. It simply doesn’t make sense to go into debt for college, if it’s something like medicine, then the government should be paying your way through school so you can save countless lives during your career.