Hi folks 👋

This week, schools reopened in Chennai for new academic sessions after a mini break. (I wonder how kids play at school in this sweltering 35 degrees Celsius!)

It is now customary for my 13-year-old daughter to narrate her daily adventures at school.

Sitting on the kitchen platform and watching me make coffee for her, she’d tell me about her teachers, her friends, the goofy stuff they did at school.

During one of these sessions, she told me about a lesson she was studying at school. It was “The Fun They Had,” a science fictional story written by Isaac Asimov.

Set in the year 2155, it shows how children learn from machines that are referred to as ‘teachers’ from the confines of their homes.

Margie, the main character, loathes these machines. She discusses with her neighbor Tommy, about the times her grandfather lived in – when kids gathered at schools to study together.

Asimov depicts the ‘teacher’ as large and black and ugly with a big screen – meaning a computer.

It set me thinking – would the future really look like what he’s depicted?

Will our future generations know what it means to go to school?

That brings me to the biggest thing people are talking about – ChatGPT.

It has been 140 days since it was launched.

People have been using it to cough up marketing campaigns, appeal to traffic police to wriggle out of parking fines, write passively aggressive and firm email to airlines for delayed flights – the list seems endless.

It sure is a wonderful product and makes people work less.

But, what if it makes you think less?

Or, more importantly, what if it makes people talk to other people less?

That brings us to the post of the week.