When I started the class system theory, social media and psychology in October I really had no idea what to expect. I only started the class in the second week, which felt a little like I would drop in in the middle of a conversation, but it was okay. I was expecting the class to go a little over the basics of psychology and how social media would influence this, mainly because I had a hard time picturing any sort of class by the concept system theory. The class seemed to be mostly about system theory in my opinion, which was great. Thursday afternoon felt like a different class than everything else, having time to think about the concepts we discussed and making space for discussion about the implications of certain topics.
I learned about a lot of new concepts, we discussed multiple definitions of a system. The idea of self-organization stuck to me as a spontaneous appearance of some form of order without being imposed by an external force or guidance and that some animals already enforce this. Among others, I learned about the concepts reductionism and emergence. I think a lot of the class described concepts that we as humans could learn a thing or two about. We would learn about another way of organization, which could make some snarky comments towards the way some things in our world work.
The complex system theory taught me a different way of looking at the same certain thing, concept or situation. It would ask the question if something can only be the sum of its part or if there is something bigger to it. Is a tree just roots, trunk and leaves? What about humans? It is like looking at the bigger picture, I think. Some of the articles I read seemed to focus mainly on arguments why a system point of view is ‘better’, but I think it is interesting to look at it as another perspective. Having multiple perspectives gives us the opportunity to see the problem form multiple sides, and think of solutions from different perspectives.
And then the class talked about AI systems like chatGPT. This topic was, in my opinion, interesting, refreshing and to be honest kind of cool. It is such a new concept, even if I could explain the current impact or result of chatGPT for my career and even personal life, I still would have no idea how this would change with any new form of AI. And everything is going to keep changing. We talked about the advantages and disadvantages right now, and how they could change over time, we asked how the systems could develop and what we might be expecting. How could this influence the way we teach people, how about the way we approach certain jobs and even governments? And this was a discussion I would usually continue after class, either in my head or with friends or roommates.
I had a conversation with a friend from my studies at home about how our university is treating this development versus my classes at Panteion university. She told me that she is actually scared of using AI at all, because of the way our university approached it. They apparently are trying the ban the use of chatGPT or any other AI systems for any projects or assignments, even threatening with expulsion. In my opinion that is such a stupid waste, the programs are out there anyways and it will be influencing the way we will be doing our future jobs, even if we don’t know how yet. I told her about this class and that I really like how this class tries to explore its possibilities, and with that our own personal abilities. I feel like it is useful to look at the way a program like chatGPT can influence our life and take the advantages of that, while being aware of the disadvantages. In that way we can start to explore what we can contribute to a society where AI systems exists.
In these discussions so many questions pop up in my mind. How will this influence my personal life, my professional life. I am studying to be in public administrations, will that be necessary in a couple years, or will me and chatGPT work together in harmony. Is it plagiarism when you ask a form of AI for help, even if I put in the input? Will chat gpt take over the world?
If I can share a little personal point: On the opening day of my high school the management showed me a video (unfortunately in Dutch, but I will link it down below anyways) made in 1998, which shows an interview of Frans Bromet asking people on the street if they would want a mobile phone now or ever. Everyone immediately answers with no, arguing that they think it would be terrible to be so reachable all the time, a woman saying that she really does not want anyone calling her when she is on her bike or in the train. They answer that if someone really needs something they can leave a message, or try again tomorrow, and they seem to really feel that would be enough.
One of the school principals responded that they did not want to teach us anything that would seem useful right now, anything that working people use right now. Instead, he said, “I will learn you how to adapt to changing environments, how to be good at learning new things and how to think openly about new situations and choices.” His point of view was that our environment and our world will be changing anyways, that learning eleven-year-olds anything about the current state of affairs would be useless. The video was made 15 years before that moment, and at the start of high school we will still be in school for about 10 to 15 years. So, by the time that we will reach a working job maybe everything will have changed. I, an eleven-year-old, was a little too stunned to speak, my dad just looked confused, and my mom amazed.
Right now, I think the principle could not have been more right. Cause nine years ago, who would have thought about the development of an AI system like chatGPT, so I am glad that in high school I learned more than just summarizing text and reproducing knowledge, because in a few more years I might not even need that.
In the classes we also touched the topic about schools and what to teach people in another class, on which I wrote another one of my blogs. That class the professor said: “Education should not focus on how intelligent or creative you are, but instead focus on how are you intelligent or creative.” I take interest in critically looking at our education system, trying to actually learn people something valuable. So, I do think we should reshape education, including primary school and universities into something that learns you to adapt, to learn new things, to think critical about everything surrounding you. So that everybody in the future will have the ability to see the development of a new system, maybe like AI, maybe nothing like it, and think critically about its consequences and advantages.
Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNwhIHqM60g
“The only that remains constant in life is change; “Everything flows and nothing abides” as ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus said some 2500 years before our time. Therefore, we need a new educational paradigm: “I take interest in critically looking at our education system, trying to actually learn people something valuable. So, I do think we should reshape education, including primary school and universities into something that learns you to adapt, to learn new things, to think critical about everything surrounding you. So that everybody in the future will have the ability to see the development of a new system, maybe like AI, maybe nothing like it, and think critically about its consequences and advantages.”