Nice reflections here. But shouldn't we understand the principles behind AI before diving into it? Just thinking that if our kids are beggining the learning courve already in AI, who will bring new perspectives and understanding of the next steps of software as a whole (AI included)?
Yes and no. Yes some people should, but overall I don't think so.
Compare it to gold mining again. Of course some people drive the cutting edge of gold mining forward by understanding the basics (and much more advanced chemistry and physics and engineering) needed.
But! 99% involved in the gold mining industry don't. And the amount of people needed inside that industry overall has shrunk by magnitudes of order.
So should people understand the basics of gold mining? No. Will people in the future need to understand the basics of software engineering? No, not unless they want to be one of the very few limited people who help to feed a brute force machine (which btw. brings prosperty and progress to us all).
And a second point is this: Gold mining by brute force today looks vastly different than it did 100 years ago. As will software engineering by brute force. So the principles you're talking off likely won't be the principles of coding of the future.
Nice reflections here. But shouldn't we understand the principles behind AI before diving into it? Just thinking that if our kids are beggining the learning courve already in AI, who will bring new perspectives and understanding of the next steps of software as a whole (AI included)?
Yes and no. Yes some people should, but overall I don't think so.
Compare it to gold mining again. Of course some people drive the cutting edge of gold mining forward by understanding the basics (and much more advanced chemistry and physics and engineering) needed.
But! 99% involved in the gold mining industry don't. And the amount of people needed inside that industry overall has shrunk by magnitudes of order.
So should people understand the basics of gold mining? No. Will people in the future need to understand the basics of software engineering? No, not unless they want to be one of the very few limited people who help to feed a brute force machine (which btw. brings prosperty and progress to us all).
And a second point is this: Gold mining by brute force today looks vastly different than it did 100 years ago. As will software engineering by brute force. So the principles you're talking off likely won't be the principles of coding of the future.