How long have you not seriously thought? Princeton scholars warn: AI is eroding the "heritage of the Enlightenment".

David A. Bell, a historian at Princeton University, points out that while AI's instant answers save humans the time and convenience of retrieving data, they may erode the most precious legacy of the Enlightenment, namely independent thinking and rational questioning. (Synopsis: Submission" Anthropic lawsuit unveils AI fig leaf: plunder for social well-being, you and I are responsible for the next generation of knowledge desert) (Background supplement: Lin Shanglun's lawyer's article" AI defeats three lawyers? Make no mistake, this is the prologue to "Lawyer 2.0") At present, with the rapid development and popularization of artificial intelligence (AI), whether it is writing code, designing posters, or academic writing, more and more people are incorporating AI into their work and life. Although many of today's jobs still require both AI and human labor, there is a lot of talk about AI that will one day completely replace humans. However, David A. Bell, a historian at Princeton University who focuses on the Enlightenment, recently wrote in the New York Times that while acknowledging the transformation AI has brought to the world, he also criticized the impact that AI may have on the modern spirit, Bell bluntly said: The knowledge provided by AI may seem all-encompassing, but in fact it may shake the most precious legacy of the Enlightenment, which is the spirit of independent thinking and rational questioning. AI may weaken critical thinking Bell notes that 18th-century Enlightenment thinkers such as D'Alembert and Diderot encouraged readers to deliberate on texts for themselves through the Encyclopedia. However, although AI tools such as ChatGPT can also quickly retrieve and organize knowledge, they "chew" the answers before serving them, allowing users to get the final conclusion in a short time, but stripping away the user's thinking process of exploration and reflection. Bell said that when interacting with AI, it can be found that AI always caters to the needs of human cues, but lacks a challenge to opinions and positions, he bluntly said: "It never said: 'This is the wrong question.'" It never challenged my moral convictions or asked me to defend myself." In Bell's view, when the unique ability of human beings to think rationally as intelligent animals is deprived by AI, the modern spirit nurtured by the Enlightenment has undoubtedly been weakened. Truth, Reason, and "Hallucinatory Content" Bell is particularly concerned about the speed and scale at which AI generates "hallucinatory content." He pointed out that AI lacks real understanding and moral judgment, and if it is not careful, it will wrap fictional data into credible statements and meet the needs of users with fabricated content. If society relies too heavily on such exports, the culture of evidence that the scientific community has painstakingly built will also be eroded. Bell points out that the scientific spirit of the Enlightenment emphasized verifiability and open debate, and if people lose confidence in the authenticity of information, the pillar of "rational discussion" will also collapse. Enlightenment thinkers such as Montesquieu and Voltaire are good at guiding readers to hone their reasoning ability in contradictions, but on the other hand, business-oriented AI products, most of them are strengthening the user's existing preferences, simply put, if the user itself is biased against a certain point of view, AI not only can not stimulate the user's self-reflection and critical ability, but may deepen this bias, which will make human beings deeply trapped in the prison of prejudice. Bell emphasizes that when human beings sacrifice sharp questions in pursuit of quick results, at the civil society level, people lose the necessary questioning of authority and tradition. Education and the way out of "collective hybrid intelligence" Bell is not denying technology, but calling for human agency in policy and teaching. He proposed the concept of "collective hybrid intelligence": integrating the computing power of AI with human ethical judgment and empirical insight. This means that school classrooms should reinforce deep reading, debate, and logic training, so that students see AI as an aid, not an end point for answers. In the long run, only by taking the initiative to question and bravely dialogue can mankind continue to write the spirit of enlightenment in the rapidly changing wave of technology. Bell's historical perspective reminds us that we can lose our instinct for convenience in seeking convenience. When AI can replace humans to capture information like an explosion in the universe, what really needs to be invested may be the patience to wrestle with problems. Whether AI can become the driving force to continue the spirit of enlightenment, rather than standing on the opposite side of the spirit of enlightenment, depends on whether each user is willing to retain the courage to ask questions. Related reports AI privacy collapse "ChatGPT conversation" naked in front of the law; Altman: I'm afraid of entering personal information, and it's hard to know who will get the data. When AI threatens the survival of human beings, we need Satoshi's design philosophy more Professor Yale: AI will "permanently eliminate" human loneliness, do we still need each other's company? 〈How long have you not thought about it?) Princeton academics warn: AI is eroding the "legacy of the Enlightenment" This article was first published in BlockTempo's "Dynamic Trends - The Most Influential Blockchain News Media".