Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Creativity with, or against, the machines?

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

When I was on a training program in Texas in 1980 I bought an electronic chess playing machine that was better than I was. And make no mistake - I was pretty good at chess. Today, of course, computers can beat any chess player in the world. And yet, humans play chess. One wonders: why? David White doesn't mention chess at all in this article but I think he's asking the same question, only about creativity in general. "What I think I'm seeing is a post-AI shift towards a defence of humanity against technology," he writes. "Or a gentler view might be that it's an assertion of what is unique about being human – an attempt at defining what humans 'bring to the table'." But is it really? He writes, "the new habit of defending, or promoting, humanness by technologists will lead to an increasing understanding of why 'Art School' values around not-knowing, risk, ambiguity, play and general graft are exactly what's needed to continue to expand what it means to be human."

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Apr 28, 2024 11:39 a.m.

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