Thread by @Audacity_of_Me

I've been mulling on a thought since @elonmusk's announcement of the #Neuralink development status: what does a humanities curriculum look like when you don't teach writing? Hang with me as I walk through this. #edchat

2/ @elonmusk mentioned that our devices are limited by the input process. Our mental compositions are currently limited by the screen typing or voice to text typing. There is a lag and delay between what we want to say and imputing the data to say it through the device.

3/ The show and tell for reference

4/You can see the monkey use neural activity "spikes" to move a cursor, but when this gets implanted to human brains it's going to be able to process words. Here's a few of the studies making "sub vocal speech" heard.

5/ In 2004, NASA played around with the concept.
nasa.gov/home/hqnews/20…

6/ Think about how much this tech has developed in 18 years and add in the hardware/firmware/updatable software of Neuralink.

7/Here's a hint. This is external electrodes picking up brain activity in 2012. 2012!!!
newscientist.com/article/dn2140…

8/ and here is the production of operationalized tech in 2018. news.mit.edu/2018/computer-…

9/Let me highlight that this is all from EXTERNAL instruments measuring neural activity. When this technology goes internal (if it hasn't already), the measurements will be cleaner and much quicker.

10/ Unlike the monkeys moving cursors, you will look at a device and sentences will appear on a screen. Yes, Neuralink is framing this to appeal to people who have severe disabilities, but this tech is going to be an advantage for anyone who gets it.

11/ A student with an implant will look at his/her laptop and all of their ideas will flow onto screen at the speed of bio-electricity. It will be fragmented gooblygook. Phrases everywhere. Random sentences about lunch. Pages of irrelevant garbage, yet that's brainstorming.

12/ This is where Musk's other private joy emerges: AI. With a click of a button (or intended thought), a student selects a AI needed to build an essay out of the pages of mental now written clutter . And in the end they hand in an essay. Now, teacher, did they write it?

13/ Do you see the upcoming paradigm shift now? Is AI and cybernetic assistance plagiarism in your school handbook? Careful. I bet your students can use calculators in physics and Calc but can't use Google Translate for Spanish. Why?

14/ I'm going to make a bold prediction that within 2 years most students are going to write at least a few assignments using a copywrite AI. I'm saying 2 years, because of cost ATM combined with AI passing natural speech trials

15/ This is a calculator decision moment. At one time, math teachers taught you the math with a slide rule; now they teach you how to use the calculator. I bet humanities teachers in less than a decade will be teaching how to plug in desired themes and thesis into the school AI.

16/ Will vocab and writing still be important, yes, yet it will be the result of your inputs into the AI and not the actual craft of the writing.

17/ Let's use an analogy: once you needed to know how to change your tires and oil if you wanted to drive a car. You had to know that car inside and out, but now you just need to know how to press the right buttons, the local driving laws, and which shop to use.

18/ We call people who know cars now "mechanics," "specialists," and "experts." They are still needed, but it's not needed general information.

19/ Language construction is going through the same specialization process. Yes, those talented individuals will be language "mechanics" and "specialists" but they will be very good and relatively uncommon.

20/ So what do we as curriculum writers do to prepare for this shift? I posed this to a colleague and they replied "I'll either be retired or dead by then, so I won't worry about it." Ooooook, but the rest of us do have to think about it.

21/ I'm still thinking about it and will be thinking about it for a bit. Yet, because I am thinking about it now, my future students are already benefiting. We'll have policies that promote learning process over product and that'll be a great start. It'll be an exciting time!