I would like to think that we might still defeat AI...and believe that in some
instances we can. At the moment (at least without careful prompts), writing
about a current event or a highly localized topic may be successful.
But in the interest of undermining our own confidence in ourselves, I present
to you ChatGPT's response to the following prompt: "Write a 500 word essay
addressing the question: 'are maps inherently colonial'? Based your answer on
an observation of the usual relief map of e.g. Ethiopia, green for the lowlands
as in Europe, but they have green uplands and desert lowlands, or other
non-European coloured landscapes like the Inuit regions."
-------------------
"The Colonial Roots of Mapmaking: How Maps Reflect Power Dynamics and
Marginalize Indigenous Peoples"
Maps are often thought of as objective representations of the world around us, but this is not always the case. In many instances, maps can be seen as inherently colonial, as they often reflect the biases and perspectives of the people who create them. This can be observed in the way that maps are usually presented, with certain features being highlighted or emphasized while others are de-emphasized or ignored.
One way in which maps can be seen as colonial is in the way they portray different landscapes. For example, the usual relief map of Ethiopia shows the lowlands in green, just as they would be depicted in a map of Europe. However, this ignores the fact that Ethiopia also has green uplands and desert lowlands, which are not typically depicted in the same way on a European map. In other words, the map is imposing a European-centric view of the landscape onto a region that does not necessarily conform to that view.
Another way in which maps can be seen as colonial is in the way they portray the indigenous peoples of different regions. For instance, the Inuit regions of the world are often depicted on maps using colors and symbols that are not typically used to represent other groups of people. This can create the impression that the Inuit are somehow fundamentally different from other people, and reinforces the idea that they are a "foreign" or "exotic" group. This can contribute to the marginalization of the Inuit, and reinforces the power dynamics between the colonizers and the colonized.
Overall, maps can be seen as inherently colonial because they often reflect the biases and perspectives of the people who create them. They can be used to reinforce existing power dynamics, and can contribute to the marginalization of certain groups of people. While maps can be useful tools for understanding the world around us, it is important to recognize the limitations and potential biases inherent in the way they are created and presented.
-------------------
I presume this untouched, single prompt essay would fare reasonably well on an
exam, especially given the limited time and energy the high volume university
allows us for tending to individual students.
One possible essay strategy might be to ask student to critique an essay
written by AI. When ChatGPT was asked to critique the above essay or say what
it might have misunderstood, it was compelled to say that it is incapable of
understanding or critique.
cuz AI can't think
On Wed, Dec 07, 2022 at 04:19:44PM +0000, Hillary Shaw wrote:
> But as human beings I'd like to think our brains can still defeat AI, maybe not on speed of mechanical number crunching but certainly on intuition, imagination and cross-linkages. So regarding essay writing, maybe set essays that AI simply can't replicate, or at least would find it very hard to, as you need observation and imagination to tackle the topic.
>So in retail geography, for example, we could ask the students to write on how they could improve the local supermarket, or how to market fish-flavoured ice cream in the UK (yes I believe they already have this product in Japan). In other areas of the social sciences, maybe 'can Rishi Sunak really tackle poverty'', or 'Should we develop a single reusable venue for the Olympics', or 'how could traffic calming best work in (this) area', or 'are maps inherently colonial' (based on an observation of the usual relief map of e.g. Ethiopia, green for the lowlands as in Europe, but they have green uplands and desert lowlands), or other non-European coloured landscapes like the Inuit regions. I'd like to see an IT essay mill tackle those. Our imagination can surely outfox whatever the mills can churn out.
>
>Dr Hillary J Shaw
>Centre for Urban Research on Austerity
>Faculty of Business and Law
>De Montfort University, Leicester
>LE1 9BH
>http://dmu.ac.uk/about-dmu/academic-staff/business-and-law/hilary-shaw/hillary-shaw.aspx
>www.fooddeserts.org
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Federico Venturini <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Sent: Wed, 7 Dec 2022 14:28
>Subject: Re: The College Essay is Dead
>
> In the last few days I was thinking to write something similar on this mailing list to know what people think about the broader consequences of AI development.
> The products developed by https://openai.com are impressive. I was playing with https://chat.openai.com/ and it gave me some incredibly clear and complete answers.
> Is the essay, as we intended till now, dead? I tend to say yes...
> Federico
>
> On 07/12/22 14:35, Jon Cloke wrote:
>
>
> Fantastic.
> The Atlantic, December 6th, 2022 (https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/12/chatgpt-ai-writing-college-student-essays/672371/)
> "Suppose you are a professor of pedagogy, and you assign an essay on learning styles. A student hands in an essay with the following opening paragraph:
>
> The construct of “learning styles” is problematic because it fails to account for the processes through which learning styles are shaped. Some students might develop a particular learning style because they have had particular experiences. Others might develop a particular learning style by trying to accommodate to a learning environment that was not well suited to their learning needs. Ultimately, we need to understand the interactions among learning styles and environmental and personal factors, and how these shape how we learn and the kinds of learning we experience.
>
> Pass or fail? A- or B+? And how would your grade change if you knew a human student hadn’t written it at all? Because Mike Sharples, a professor in the U.K., used GPT-3, a large language model from OpenAI that automatically generates text from a prompt, to write it."
>
> --
> Dr Jon Cloke Senior Research Associate - ENR-Demos ENR-Demos website: http://www.enrdemosproject.net/ CEO Social Energy System Consultants
> LCEDN National Network Manager LCEDN website: www.lcedn.com
>
> Recently published: Low-carbon energy democracy in the Global South? Ben Campbell, Jon Cloke and Ed Brown. DOI: 10.4324/9780429402302-41 Chapter 35 pp.393-407 In Routledge Handbook of Energy Democracy. (Eds.) Andrea M. Feldpausch-Parker, Danielle Endres, Tarla Rai Peterson and Stephanie L. Gomez. 2022
>
> To unsubscribe from the CRIT-GEOG-FORUM list, click the following link:
> https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/WA-JISC.exe?SUBED1=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM&A=1
>To unsubscribe from the CRIT-GEOG-FORUM list, click the following link:
>https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/WA-JISC.exe?SUBED1=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM&A=1
>
>########################################################################
>
>To unsubscribe from the CRIT-GEOG-FORUM list, click the following link:
>https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/WA-JISC.exe?SUBED1=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM&A=1
>
>This message was issued to members of www.jiscmail.ac.uk/CRIT-GEOG-FORUM, a mailing list hosted by www.jiscmail.ac.uk, terms & conditions are available at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/
--
Cuz Potter
Associate Dean
Graduate School of International Studies
Korea University
########################################################################
To unsubscribe from the CRIT-GEOG-FORUM list, click the following link:
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/WA-JISC.exe?SUBED1=CRIT-GEOG-FORUM&A=1
This message was issued to members of www.jiscmail.ac.uk/CRIT-GEOG-FORUM, a mailing list hosted by www.jiscmail.ac.uk, terms & conditions are available at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/
|
