Why Languages, Literature, and Culture still Matter (Part IV)
As has happened so many times before, advanced technology is once again playing the disruptor. AI is going to change the way we live and work, but those who hone their creative skills will still prosper. The key, as noted in previous posts, is to deliberately place yourself in as many different reference frames as possible. Doing so enhances your tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty while also adding new frames to your existing stock of frames. In today’s world, one cannot have too many mind blades, returning to our Swiss army knife analogy. Quantity matters when an environment is in a high state of flux because it increases the probability of referencing an experience that is similar enough to the new situation to be helpful. Rarely does an existing frame perfectly fit the existing circumstance. But usually, with a little tinkering, it can be made useful, providing a set of initial reference points, illuminating a creative path forward.
Historically, the acquisition of new reference frames was accomplished in two fundamental ways. The first was through reading. The Great Books program at the University of Chicago, for example, introduces students to philosophy’s big ideas through an in-depth exploration of key texts from the western canon. While useful, reading is a one-dimensional activity, and its transformative value depends largely on one's ability and willingness to step into the world of the text, a world that must be constructed by and exists solely within the human mind.
A second, more effective way of doing this work is through travel. From the 17th through the 19th centuries, young aristocrats undertook the Grand Tour, a multi-year educational and cultural pilgrimage through France and Italy. The true value of immersive learning lies in the fact that it confronts the learner with an external, already constructed world. In other words, the student does not have to rely solely on an internal representation of a given world, as is the case when reading. Externality adds a key dimension to the learning experience. It pushes learning forward, forcing the learner to continually adjust to and make sense of a cultural and linguistic frame unlike their own. Today, the Grand Tour has been replaced by a semester or a year abroad, often enriched by short trips to cultural institutions such as art museums, opera houses, and botanical gardens.
While reading is an inexpensive way of reframing experience, a semester abroad or longer costs much more. Unfortunately, this makes the learning abroad experience unattainable for a large number of students. Is there another option? I think there is. Generative AI now allows us, in principle, to quickly construct virtual worlds that are the next best thing to actually being there. In fact, the act of constructing these worlds has a lot of instructional value. In my next post, I will take a closer look at generative AI and its possible contribution to learning.