Universities Should Prioritize Critical Thinking Over Large Language Models
It is doubtful that LLMs can generate novel ways to boost productivityImprovements in our standard of living depend on productivity growth, which is often fueled by creative ideas that are particularly valuable because, unlike coal, timber, and other physical resources, they can be used repeatedly and simultaneously by many people in many places. Productivity growth has slowed in recent years, a trend that prominent economists writing the American Economic Review attributed to a dearth of new ideas: Our robust finding is that research productivity is falling sharply everywhere we look. Taking the US aggregate number as representative, research productivity falls in half every 13 years: ideas are getting harder and harder to find. The authors estimated that, compared to 50 years ago, it now takes 18 times as many researchers to Read More ›
