How Not to Learn AI
A story about two ways of learning a paradigm-shifting technology: Mom in a dark room with a homework assignment, and a nine-year-old too busy playing Neopets to know it was a new thing. The AI hype machine has us all in the dark room.
In 2001, I remember my Mom signing up for “computer classes”.
The course promised to prepare her for a future where computers (and this shiny new thing called “the internet”?) would reign supreme.
After working a full day in the lab where she was a research assistant, she’d make dinner, then buckle down at the only computer in the house. It was in the room where I slept, so I’d fall asleep watching her do homework.
She worked at this for months.
She learned nothing.
My Mom was not the problem here. She was born in Urumqi, China — where to simply qualify for college required scoring in the top 99 percentile on the national gaokao. She graduated from medical school with a degree in biochemistry and would end up at Harvard Medical School on scholarship.
My Dad was just as brilliant. The minute he saw the first version of the PC at Best Buy, he brought one home. He signed up for Netzero and got us “online”.
They were both busy research assistants on scholarships, living in a tiny 1-bed rental. They made time for this because it was so very clearly important.
But today, they call me when the printer breaks.
You see, that clunky old PC was My Favorite Toy. So much so, that my Dad bought me Microsoft Powerpoint as a birthday gift. I’d spend hours making slide shows with family photos — fully animated with sound effects and music.
The internet my Dad hooked up would introduce me to Neopets, a game where you take care of virtual pets in a virtual world. You could customize your profile, and even set up your own “petpage” on a unique URL.
I was a 9-year-old girl, writing, testing, and pushing front-end code to production. I worked with other 9-year-old girls to troubleshoot bugs, share code snippets, and collaborate on design. I made pixel art because I only had MS Paint, but other friends had state-of-the-art applications… like Adobe Photoshop.
We even did design critiques — I still remember one girl who told me I wasn’t living up to my potential because I lacked patience for detail (she was 100% right).
I was nothing like my Mom, anxiously preparing myself for a future of computing and the internet.
I was too busy in it.
Hype ≠ good vibes
There is so much AI content today that can be boiled down to “Adapt or die”.
It’s… exhausting. We know AI is here to stay. We know it must be learned.
Why are you re-stating the obvious?
It adds nothing and ruins the vibe. What should be exciting, innovative and fun is now an anxious, obligatory threat.
Not exactly an ideal learning environment.
No matter how smart and capable you are, fear will shrink your world. You lose perspective and make rash choices. You become vulnerable to exploitation.
Ex: “computer courses” looking to cash in.
When I think about the early days of the internet, I think of Mom, Dad, and my Neofriends — safety, belonging, and wonder.
It’s why the AI hype and fear mongering makes me so sad.
All I can see is my Mom in a dark room. Hard at work and well-understanding that the world around her is changing.
I hear a slew of anxious voices telling her what she already knows, stirring up unease she doesn’t need.
She is so smart. She is so profoundly resilient.
She is so tired.
All I want to do is hold her and tell her that everything will be alright.
I wish she’d just play Neopets with me.