More, LOTS more

  

Back when I was but a boy, still optimistic about my ability to learn math, my teachers taught us the concept of “estimating” (also known as “guestimating”). The idea was that we could approximate what the answer should be like before we did any computations so we could compare what we got with what made sense and that way, we could see if our math was completely off base. At the time I felt like the estimate should have been enough because, even then, I knew that there was precious little use for math in the world. Leave that up to the professional mathetizers and I’ll stick with the lottery winners and hire them mathetizers to do the work.

As I aged (for lack of available and desirable options) I recognized that the value of estimating is that it reinforces an understanding of the relationship between numbers. Once you see how the answer SHOULD look because you have a sense of how the pieces operate, you stand a much better chance of seeing why a potential answer is wrong. If you know the answer should be a negative, or has to be more than either of the parts, then an answer that doesn’t fit that schema can be discarded.

This type of understanding of numbers is rudimentary, but, more importantly, it is fundamental. If I go to the local fast fooderie and pay with cash, I don’t want my server to take my cash and give me change without considering what, approximately, my change should be. I want to hear him or her say “that can’t be right!” Otherwise, typing errors or other tech-interface mis-actions will be believed regardless.

Why do I mention this? I’m glad I asked. I’m also glad I didn’t wait for you sheep to ask because I can’t always count on you people to wade in and find your voice. So I’m here for you. Mostly because I’m awesome.

I was having a conversation with someone recently about the value of math instruction and he pointed out that he didn’t like when, when he was but a wee lad, his teachers forbade the use of a calculator during assessments because, in their words, “you won’t always have a calculator handy.” He laughed at them in retrospect and reminded the huddled masses that he always has his phone with him. Har har we all chortled (chortling is the cool way to laugh kids). And secretly I cried inside.

What I predict is that people in the service industry, doing the kinds of basic work that serves as the backbone of any society will start doing worse and worse jobs. The guy basing his fee on the square footage of my living room floor will use his phone to measure and then compute and if the resultant acreage (It’s a big room) is illogical, he will trust the technology. The guy figuring out how many miles I can go before my next oil fill will mistype a number into his device and I’ll end up on the side of the road next to a flaming hunk of imported metal.

The same can be said for teaching spelling – understanding WHY words are constructed the way they are not only helps sharpen the memory, but allows people to intuit the meaning of unfamiliar words by looking at roots and affixes. Relying on AI to “correct” words will lead to the wrong words’ being used (the “Damn you autocorrect” syndrome) and the wrong message’s being conveyed. We cannot dress up laziness and call it “the future” and turn it into a positive.

The Lower Order Thinking Skills which I value so highly, having been subcontracted to technology will disempower the sectors of society which are based on those skills and there will be no intuition – no developed memorization skills, no experience of spotting the error, and no understanding of the relationship between values. There will be no practice of approximating a proper answer because “who needs to do basic math?” There will be no insight into WHY math works the way it works and therefore there will be no critical sense willing to question when an answer doesn’t fit, on its face.

We will not be taken over by robots, technology and AI. We will be (and already are) handing over the keys to the kingdom in a slow regression that we call progress. We will become reliant on technology and so convinced that our deeper analytical skills are so developed that we needn’t worry about the basics. And the robots won’t have to do much but exploit our foundational stupidity and we will go to our doom in neat and orderly lines.