I just heard about another digital situation that I have no idea how to handle. A college instructor read a student's final paper, found it "a word salad" and ran it through the school's AI-content detector. Content detectors take note if writing shifts abruptly from one idea to another without much connection. They notice changes in tone-- say from formal to casual. (If a person using AI to "write" a paper revises some of the AI's words, deletes repeated words and includes personal stories, a content detector will likely determine that a human "wrote" the text.)
False positives from content detectors are not unusual.
This instructor's content detector determined that an AI generated his student's paper.
The student ran her paper through another AI-content detector, and it determined that a human wrote the paper.
The instructor refuses to meet with the student.
How/can anyone prepare for this kind of situation?
Can humans help? Or, is help now limited to what robots and Higher Powers provide?
While technology thrives, so many of us struggle to survive. We don't know what tech education we need-- or where to get it. We look for jobs that pay enough for nutrient-dense food, clean water, shelter and health care. While we think we have more than enough screens and robots, public dollars build more new technologies.
Can we elect not to use a technology? Where do people preferring human relationships go?
My world needs study groups! We need to educate ourselves about our realistic options in this digital era. We need to discuss how to move toward living within the water, food and minerals provided by our watershed.
MORE WATER
The western United States faces its worst megadrought in a millennium. By 2050, flows from the Colorado River, which supplies water to more than 40 million Americans and supports much of the country's food production, could shrink by 31%. Levels in Lake Mead, the nation's largest freshwater reservoir, have dropped to around 25% of capacity. In 2022, the Bureau of Reclamation, which governs Lake Mead and Lake Powell and water distribution for the Colorado River's southern end, told the seven states that draw from the Colorado to cut their consumption by as much as 40%-- or the federal government will do it for them. Meanwhile, California, which draws from the Colorado, reservoirs and aquifers, faces a historic decline in water levels.
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