source : the age
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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Are we concerned about our present and future generations’ use of AI to achieve results in their pursuit of degrees as outlined by Samuel Castle’s article (″I went to uni to learn. What I discovered about my generation has made me angry and terrified″, 27/6)?
Are our governments concerned about this? It would seem not, when they allow data centres to built at a fast rate with questionable regulation. We are already compromised with this technology by being unable to contact most of our vital institutions, for example hospitals and nearly every business that previously had a human listening and directing our concerns to the appropriate person.
You have no choice now as you are forced into to their AI database to have your concerns addressed. This alone is a risk due to the rise of cyber crime. When you remove human contact and use AI to think for you, it is so easy for AI to control you without question. The ability of the mind to think differently is gravely compromised. Is this the society we want to live in?
Christine Baker, Rosanna
Back to basics, or lose them
I was recently discussing AI with an academic in the US. She told me she encourages her students to use it for all the mundane admin tasks that take up time – such as completing grant applications and various compliance documentation – that could be better spent doing other things. Sounds reasonable, right? Wrong.
First, completing this documentation forces the student to reflect on their project and consider whether they are asking the right questions and using the most appropriate methods.
Second, and perhaps more important, it is a mistake to believe people can develop so-called “higher order” skills without first developing a foundation of basic skills. The best mathematicians started off learning how to add and multiply numbers.
Unfortunately, the more we use AI to do the basics, the less important it will seem to learn how to do the basics and we’ll soon stop teaching these skills.
AI may be a very useful tool for those of us fortunate enough to have learned the basics. But we are in danger of later generations being incapable of doing the higher-order tasks that AI is supposed to free us all up for.
Donna Cohen, Southbank
Old school exams are solution
There is a solution to the problem of AI ruining universities and high schools and dumbing us all down. We will have to go back to written exams held in supervised exam halls marked anonymously by humans, with no phones, computers or earpieces allowed. This is the way it used to be and must be again. Otherwise, just hire the robot.
Paul Johnson, Clifton Hill
Welcome liberation from gruelling toil
Australia should embrace the surge in data centres and the AI revolution. Our geography and political stability make us a desirable location for global operators, giving us bargaining power to maximise economic benefit while minimising downsides. And once built, data centres are immovable, giving us a long-term valuable asset.
AI will replace countless jobs, prompting anxiety about mass unemployment. But why treat liberation from gruelling toil as a crisis? We need a philosophical reset.
Bertrand Russell argued in his 1932 essay In Praise of Idleness that modern efficiency should deliver a four-hour workday, freeing humans up for creativity, learning and community.
If we tax the immense wealth generated by AI to fund a universal basic income, we can finally realise Russell’s vision. Mass “economic unemployment” need not be a disaster; it can be a civilisational triumph.
(Disclosure: I had a job once. I always thought having one was overrated.)
Carlo Ursida, Kensington
THE FORUM
Questions for state Labor
In what universe would we Victorian taxpayers believe we are in, where the powers that govern us, with our money, can and do act with so little integrity and transparency? I’m sure that in many other societies, the people would all be out protesting in the streets.
Why are Victorians so complacent? Is it because for many years now there has been no cohesive opposition party to really stand up and defend the people of Victoria, who actually pay for governments to exist?
The accumulative disasters of the Big Build/CFMEU debacle, the loss of the Commonwealth Games due to mismanagement, COVID quarantines and extended lockdowns and crime out of control.
Our once-great state is swamped with debt that will never be repaid. The Labor Party refuses to show accountability. They just bulldoze their way through with lies and cover-ups even when evidence is presented by Nick McKenzie and other Age journalists.
Why is there no overarching and independent body to inquire into this? Because this government has not allowed those bodies to be able to act, making laws to inhibit such actions?
Victorians, stand up and fight, but please don’t succumb to voting for hate and division as touted by One Nation.
Just to clarify: I have been a Labor voter all my life until this coming state election.
Beverley Goss, Parkdale
Blood-borne disease
Re ″Illegal peptides surge″ (28/6). Good to see this public health issue getting coverage. As a young man growing up and coming out gay in the emerging HIV/AIDS pandemic it was a harrowing and challenging time for all LGBTIQ+ persons, sex workers, drug-injecting users and people with haemophilia.
Of course blood-borne diseases have persisted since the peak of HIV and the advent of triple combination therapies in 1996 for people with HIV.
It’s important to keep the needle exchange programs strong. But why the lack of attention on the cost cutting at our public sexual health clinics, like the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre?
The booking system there is a red tape nightmare – for this tertiary educated English-speaking white cis man. I’ve no idea how others navigate that.
Also, when the Victorian government says it had invested $3billion into expanding drug treatment supports and harm minimisation, this is absolutely meaningless without a time frame to give it clarity. Of course they have, but is that since 1982, 2020, or 2022 when they were
re-elected?
Mark Riley, Brunswick
Paying teachers peanuts
I retired from over 30 years teaching in Victoria and spent 12 month teaching in the UK where both the pay and conditions were worse than here. It confirmed my view that ‘If you pay peanuts you get monkeys’. The next generation of thinkers need the best talent to facilitate getting them there.
Don Hyatt, Dingley Village
Coalition enables
I’ve experienced decades of state and federal coalition governments that directly conflicted with my view of what governmental representation should be.
And now, due to its lack of vision, the Coalition has made Australia’s least likely exponents to be supposedly appealing to the voting public. A sad legacy for the right, opening the door for the extreme right.
Jae Sconce, Moonee Ponds
KMPG’s trust deficit
The latest professional services scandal, this time KPMG, has been unfolding through the parliamentary committee led by Senator Deborah O’Neill. The hearings highlighted KPMG’s failures, which seems to have ignored requirements for confidentiality of client information and observing ethical behaviour (″New KPMG scandal no surprise to whistleblower”, 26/6).
The hearings also highlighted the appalling treatment of the whistleblower, Colin Kruger and shown this was not an isolated case.
It appears that no one in the firm considered the risks and associated reputational damage that could result if this dishonest behaviour was uncovered, which beggars belief given the role of an audit firm.
Our taxpayer dollars should not be underwriting the profits of organisations that have lost their way on what is acceptable, ethical and transparent behaviour.
An outcome of this enquiry should be a review of existing contracts, a substantial ban on KPMG undertaking any further work for the government, a review of whistleblower legislation and consideration of legislative oversight of partnership arrangements that currently do not fall within the Corporations Act.
The piece de resistance in all of this is that KPMG is currently contracted to provide training in ethics to public servants,
Anne Lyon, Camberwell
Tram stops
Saturday afternoon, 1pm. Take a train into the city, 20 minute frequency, standing room only. Change at Flinders street for Swanston street trams. Watch two full trams go past. Get on the third tram, standing room only.
Reverse the journey at 11pm to go home. Unusually long seven minute wait for standing room only tram along Swanston street. Almost miss the train, narrowly avoiding a 30 minute wait. Train is three quarters full.
Conclusion: weekend public transport is well patronised and needs to be more frequent.
Violet Boltin, Reservoir
Landlord retort
Your correspondent (Letters, ″Landlord’s lament″, 27/6) does not seem to realise that the entire point of the tax changes is precisely to reduce rental properties. When renters become able to afford a house to live in, they become owner occupiers, and the pool of renters goes down, thereby reducing the need for rental properties to house them. And then retirees like him can invest in more productive enterprises instead.
Samuel McMahon, Parkville
Stand up for faith
Thank you, Robyn Whitaker for your Faith column (28/6) expressing your disappointment that there has been no reported statements by faith leaders on the recent anti-Muslim and immigration stands by Pauline Hanson at the National Press Club. I am aware many others active people of faith in my Anglican tradition are disappointed that our leaders seem to be missing in a tradition that in years past has had a strong and prophetic voice in the public forum.
Sadly media departments have been dismantled, and our voices muffled by failures to address abuse issues. Local congregations reach out on a regular basis to people of other faiths when tragedy or abuse occurs.
Let us hear our leaders reengage in the public forum and share the good news that embraces love and hope in our challenging times.
Ray Cleary, Camberwell
The ‘oi!’ in poise
Like your correspondent (Letters, 27/6), it is delightful to be part of a wide range of Aussies who follow the young Socceroos. And then to hear the coach praise “the poise of his young side” is refreshing and heart-warming.
Poise is rarely celebrated in public life. In our noisy world where big egos and extreme wealth dominate, here’s hoping future leaders are more like our Socceroos team: youthful, multicultural, poised.
Jenny Kashyap, Bentleigh
Crossword speed demon
It is a bit rich, or in this case over-ripe, for David Astle (27/6) to complain about being unable to retrieve one name from his copious mental word bank. Some of us not much riper than him have trouble not only with names but also words when our verbal funds are scarcer. The salt in the wound is that when doing a crossword of his, some of the clues have the clay pigeon doing fly-pasts at Mach III speed! Do studies of the benefits of doing crosswords take into account the mental anguish of not being able to get near the bloody bird? But with many thanks for his wordplays in all forms.
Ivan Watson, Cockatoo
TV veneer outbreak
Veneers and lip Botox have changed the appearance of far too many on television (mainly female): newsreaders, reporters, sports commentators, reality TV performers. The jury is out as to whether most of the dental appliances are ill-fitting or the recipient has not accepted that they do not need to smile while they are talking. Veneers are ruining the viewer experience.
Margaret Raffle, Keilor East
Love of the game first
Bridget McArthur’s report (“Jobs for the boys: The loophole at the centre of amateur football’s recruiting arms race”, 27/6) clearly sets out the changes in VAFA regulations that have enabled A Grade clubs to directly compete for ex AFL/VFL players with cashed-up suburban and country associations.
In doing so, it has failed in its fundamental aim: to provide a competition for those who want to play footy for the love of the game, not monetary reward. The fact that only 15 clubs have held the 10 places in A Grade over the past two decades is testament to the fact that the relegation system, so crucial to the competition, has been smashed.
Furthermore, dictating that breaches of the rules will only be investigated if a the complaint is supported by verifiable evidence is a huge dereliction of its duty to the VAFA constitution.
Perhaps if all returning and new players from the AFL/VFL could only enter at E Grade level, they would prove their desire to play for the ‘love of the game’ while providing a much-needed boost to the relegation process.
Mary O’Callaghan, Glen Iris
AND ANOTHER THING
State government
What on earth has happened to our collective moral compass? Bring on the Big Build royal commission, and cancel all government contracts with KPMG.
Fiona White, Alfredton
Victoria’s Attorney General, Sonya Kilkenny, stated on Friday that “silence is not leadership”. When will Premier Jacinta Allan tell all Victorians when she became aware of the CFMEU’s “lawless takeover″ of its Big Build infrastructure program?
William Holmes, Kew
Has Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny ever walked Toorak Village to ascertain the effect that the extra six-storey building height (now up to 16 storeys) that she has green lit will have on the shadowing (both sides) of Toorak Road, not to mention the wind tunnel it will create?
Anthony Straker, South Yarra
Could the state government back
off on proposals to allow 16-story buildings in prominent locations? Further, revelations re the Big Build and its rapid embrace of AI data centres are putting Labor on the nose. Do not aggravate or underrate public discontent
about this.
Darryl Cloonan, Ballarat
Furthermore
Memo to Pauline: Gough Whitlam introduced multiculturalism as a policy in 1973. We’ve been living in a well-functioning, vibrant multicultural society for decades.
Julie Conquest, Brighton
Given its constraints, perhaps AI should be renamed as LLAK (Limited Lacklustre Artificial Knowledge).
Greg Curtin, Nunawading
Our Aussie footballers are through to the knockout stage of the FIFA World Cup, and yet we still can’t acknowledge that it is football, as distinct from Australian Rules and the two rugby codes. It is, after all, a game played essentially with the foot and a ball; how easy can it get?
John Sheldrick, Peppermint Grove, WA
Getting my Blues membership in order today to get me in the running for finals tickets.
Francis Bainbridge, Fitzroy North
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