By thedihedral Posted on

AI Focus Group

I have organized an informal focus group with students to check their pulse on the future of humanity and the future of education. That being said, I thought it would be interesting to share the questions in case anyone would like to add their thoughts to the data pool, even if there is just a question or two that initiates a response. Perhaps you’ll be inspired to answer all 10 questions and share them with me or perhaps on your own outlets. Perhaps they will make interesting talking points on your next road trip, or spark conversation while relaxing at the gym or crag.

In any case, I will provide my answers below (trying to keep things relatively short and sweet).

Section 1: Humanity & the Bigger Picture

  1. When you think about the future of humanity, what are the first images or feelings that come to mind?
  2. What issues or trends today make you most concerned about the direction the world is heading?
  3. Are there developments—technological, cultural, or environmental—that give you hope or a sense that things could improve?
  4. How do you think the role of humans might change in a world increasingly driven by automation and artificial intelligence?

Section 2: Higher Education & Personal Experience

  1. How well do you feel college is preparing you for the kind of world you expect to live and work in?
  2. What aspects of college today feel outdated or disconnected from reality?
  3. When you imagine “the university of the future,” what does it look or feel like?
  4. Do you think higher education will still matter in 20 years? Why or why not?

Section 3: Personal Outlook & Collective Future

  1. What gives you hope about your own future, despite the challenges facing humanity?
  2. If you could send a message to future students 50 years from now, what would you want them to know about this moment in time?

Carrot’s Responses!

  1. The mental image is rather dystopic. for all the good that the coming technology can provide, I have trouble believing that beneficence can overcome greed. I hope I’m wrong and I can imagine a beautiful future, but that is not my first thought.
  2. The issues that concern me most are the lack of guardrails for AI development, and the amount of wealth being accumulated.
  3. There are plenty of developments that give me hope, especially in the medical field, but for those developments to matter we’ll have to avoid exterminating our selves, which I am skeptical of.
  4. I am not sure I have the imaginative capacity to envision a new role for humans. I like to think that at the very least we will remain caregivers in some capacity until the end. With reduced roles in work or school, and increased avenues for entertainment e.g. immersive VR, I like to think that valuing the health of our family (including pets) will remain.
  5. Although this is aimed primarily for students, I believe that currently, college is doing a pitiful job preparing students for the world they will inherit. I am not assigning blame, it is just very difficult to prepare students for a world with so many unknown unknowns.
  6. The idea that paying for a degree will payoff in the same way that it has for the last 70 years seems more and more outdated by the day.
  7. It all depends on how far into the future we are talking about. In the immediate future I think we’ll see an increase in enrollment which tends to happen when unemployment starts to rise. I think that politicians and administrators will fail to see the writing on the wall in terms of limited new job opportunities. As they follow the status quo, students will call BS and leave in droves which in turn will diminish both tuition fees, as well as federal and state bench marks tied to retention and completion. Schools will have to move online to save money and eventually start to close their doors en masse, until all that is left are a few religious based institutions. In the long term future I see colleges and universities playing the role of monasteries and server farms.
  8. I do think higher education will still matter in 20 years, but I see that as the point in which students begin to rebuke the notion that higher education coincides with higher income.
  9. Considering my own future I find comfort in the experiences I have been able to have in the past. Whatever the future may bring, I am not disappointed in the life I have been able to lead. A life of philosophical inquiry and trying to move up rocks has proven to be the life for me.
  10. If students in higher education exist 50 years from now, I would tell them congratulations on beating the odds. I would tell them that education for the sake of education was a rare exception in 2025, the point of education was based on getting degrees and making money. And if formal education exists in 2075, I hope that the reason they are pursuing education is to bring out the best in themselves, and in turn bringing out the best in society!
Carrot

15 Replies to “AI Focus Group”

  1. sunyamar's avatar
    sunyamar says: Reply

    so much to think about & have already. Jotted immediate thoughts to 1-4 questions & realized how fortunate your students are to have been given the gift of you!! To #3 our children/the youth are our hope

    Liked by 1 person

  2. joyfullybananaff8952a831's avatar
    joyfullybananaff8952a831 says: Reply

    (Mr. Carrot), These are my thoughts on each point:1. We are approaching a mass die-off in the coming decades, being faced with dual threats of climate change and the increasing pollution of our environment. Due to climate change, it is only a matter of time before massive, global crop failures occurs, leading to widespread famine. Wars will breakout between the haves and have-nots, further adding to the death toll. Due to pollution, a causal link exists between that and global fertility rates, which have steadily dropped over the past decades. Those children who are born are increasingly afflicted with problems, like autism and other genetic and behavioral abnormalities.  2. The increasing level of autocratic governments or wanna-be autocrats (our present administration being a prime example). These autocratic governments lean towards military or para-military (ICE) violence to achieve their domestic and international goals. Coupled with that is the increasing sophistication of genetic engineering. Unlike facilities for nuclear armaments, genetic engineering labs are easily hidden. I fear that a monster, killer pathogen is going to be created and accidentally/”oopsy-daisy” released. Think Yersinia Pestis bacteria (Bubonic Plague) spliced with elements of the measles virus (contagious factor), ebola (hemmoragic fever), as well as with the botulism bacteria (botulism toxin). 3. Nuclear fusion is just around the corner. Research efforts globally are tantalizingly close to being able to maintain sustained nuclear fusion. When that happens, all other forms of power generation [EXC: wind, solar, hydro, and geologic] will be immediately obsolete. It will take a couple of generations to accomplish this due to building the power plants and a new infrastructure. This will ultimately eliminate all coal, oil, and gas-fired power plants (greenhouse gasses) and nuclear fusion power plants (nuclear waste). As a collateral benefit example, metals smelting will be able to use widespread EAS (Electric Arc Smelting) instead of traditional methods like coke-burning blast furnaces because of the enormous electrical power that fusion power will generate. This will help to reduce industrial pollution.  4. This a difficult one to envision. There will be broad-spectrum jobs lost because of AI and automation. However, craft-based jobs will never disappear and humans will increasingly look to these types of jobs. Electricians, plumbers, welders, and construction are examples of this. AI or automation will never be able to wire or plumb a building. Certain repetitive welding jobs can be done with automation, but enough is left over for the human touch. Companies will try to cut jobs that should not be cut, and it will be up to the government to call BS on that and force them to keep employees to perform certain tasks. Can you imagine a 9000 foot train, full of haz-mats, being driven by automated AI?  5. I think that the entire educational system is doing a pathetic job of preparing our children for their adult lives. There is too much emphasis on standardized test score and cramming facts into their heads with no context. Kids are taught that “Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492.” Fine, but ask them what the geo-political and economic motivations behind his voyage were and all that is received are blank stares. In the U.S., the school year needs to be lengthened from 180 days to 220 days to keep up with the rest of the industrialized world. The use of education as a political football needs to cease and curriculum needs to be without influence of political dogma. Education needs to be fully funded with the teachers being paid a wage commensurate with their societal responsibility. Other countries’ teachers are revered. Other countries’ students do not have to pay college tuition. We can spend a trillion dollars on the military, but not an extra sou goes to education? What is wrong with this picture? 6. The erroneous idea that one requires a four or four+ year degree to succeed in life. Make no mistake, many professions require extensive post-graduate school to achieve the necessary training to qualify for their profession. However, the future professional work force also needs the kind of specialized training that the vocational schools provide. A two-year associate degree frequently better prepares the student for adult life.  7. I envision a trend towards vo-tech types of schools, rather than the four-year curriculum.  8. Absolutely. There are many fields in which higher education is essential, but I am not thinking only of the medical profession. Would you like to be working in a building that was designed by someone who “learned” their job via Google searches? The designers of the Mackinac Bridge were not high-school graduates.  9. In all candor, the way things are today makes me glad that I have far fewer summers ahead of me than behind. With that said, I take hope that I am in excellent health for a 69-year old man. I can do and maintain an activity level that many half my age cannot sustain. That and the friendships and comradery that I have found on the walls and my wife Toni make life worthwhile.  10. We are in a nexus-point in multiple ways. We are spiraling toward a second Civil War with today’s political acrimony. We are careening toward an environmental catastrophe due to our inability to make the hard choices to avert it, but also due to a large percentage of the population who does not believe the science. “You can ignore reality, but you can’t ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.” [Ayn Rand] We are close to permanently poisoning our planet as long as forever chemicals, pesticides, and herbicides continue to be manufactured and released into the environment. It is only a matter of time before the next pandemic, man-made or natural happens. How we deal with these and more today will determine the quality of life for someone 50 years into the future. John Hyler 

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Pingback: Answer’s to Carrot’s Questionnaire – Anachronism of the Far West
  5. andybuz78's avatar
    andybuz78 says: Reply

    I appreciated your thoughtful exploration of how artificial intelligence is reshaping the dynamics of focus groups. You have captured both the promise and the caution inherent in using AI to simulate human discussion, highlighting how it can accelerate insight generation while also acknowledging that human nuance, emotion, and unpredictability are not easily replicated.

    Your piece invites readers to consider when AI enhances our understanding and when it might inadvertently flatten the rich complexity of real human voices. The idea that AI driven focus groups could substitute real participants raises important questions about what we might gain and what we might lose in the process.

    Thank you for raising these questions. Your article encourages reflection on how we value human perspectives and the role of authenticity in research and conversation.

    Liked by 1 person

      2. halffastcyclingclub's avatar
        halffastcyclingclub says:

        Wow! Then I’d say you have a real talent. While AI tries to sound human, you managed to sound like a human trying to sound like AI trying to sound human. Your actual sincerity and thankfulness for what Carrot wrote reads (to me) like a parody of what AI would write.

        Liked by 1 person

      4. andybuz78's avatar
        andybuz78 says:

        I’m a long time subscriber of this particular blog, and a professional writer. It’s irritating that I and others observed are accused of being bots simply for using proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation. This is not the first time I’ve encountered this. Not for comments, but for my own blog I use AI to check for spelling, grammar, and punctuation only. All thoughts and content are my own.

        Liked by 1 person

      5. thedihedral's avatar
        thedihedral says:

        I have done this with students before too. Sometimes a paper comes through, and it just stands out, most often students will admit their use of AI, but then there are some students who just write in a way that would have never raised any flags 3 years ago, but now tend to stand out. All part of the changing tides I guess.

        Liked by 2 people

  6. Eilene Lyon's avatar
    Eilene Lyon says: Reply

    AI is a concern to me. I dabble once in a while, experiencing the sycophantic display and occasionally some helpful feedback. Mostly find it a waste of time. I’ve copied the questions and may dial back in here with my responses. One useful task it seemed to do well: translating medical jargon into plain English.

    Liked by 1 person

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