Stephen Downes

Readers will know I like most of what Carlo Iacono writes but I'm not so keen on the example he offers here: "For ninety minutes, no devices, no AI, just Marcus and eleven others wrestling with a paradox their professor has posed about consciousness and measurement. They diagram on whiteboards, argue, get frustrated, break through, argue again." He suggests that the students are developing "what researchers call naked cognition" but they're doing (to my mind) nothing of the sort. What's being described here is like recommending that we conduct driving school without any cars or simulations - we'll call it "naked self-mobilization" - where the students learn by walking. Sure, they'll get better at walking. But the skill they really need can't be learned that way - it depends on the equipment and the instrumentation.