No Technology Is Inevitable and to Make That Claim Is to Limit Possibilities

“Educators might as well accept AI because it is here to stay” so goes one of the pet EdTech and AI evangelist arguments. That is not necessarily true, but let’s look at it more closely.

This statement actually can’t be proven right because no one can see the future. Tech comes and goes so to say it is here to stay is a prediction, not a fact.

In addition, this statement assumes that educators should accept AI in whatever form being offered. Again not necessarily true. It is possible to demand that AI be safe and that it be subject to regulations that shape it in ways that is less destructive than it is.

There is also always the consumer choice not to be a user. I do not have to have a subscription or AI account.

The problem with this statement is that is authoritarian and totalitarian by nature. It tries to remove choice, and that is a way for Silicon Valley to dictate that their products are accepted.

It is this: “If you limit and direct what people can imagine, you set the parameters of possibility.”