amarmor

Hi Dr Wildman! BU alum here (philosophy, '15). In intro philosophy and logic classes, we learn a bit about a technique called "argument mapping" - the construction of a sort of flow chart that visualizes lines of logical support between premises and conclusions. It can be used for both preparing and evaluating argumentative writing, and has been empirically validated as a pretty useful tool for thinking and argumentation. It seems to me that argument mapping could serve as a useful substitute for writing when it comes to practicing critical thinking. I have 3 questions:

1) Do AI text generation tools pose a threat to argumentative writing that's presented graphically (eg. as an argument map) rather than as prose?

2) If not, do you think argument mapping could subvert the ChatGPT issue for argumentative writing (a major subset of the kind of writing expected at the college level)?

3) Is anyone talking about argument mapping (or other forms of non-prose writing) as potential solutions to the ChatGPT problem?

Thank you!

Thanks! Me too, but I think I was a little late to the party 😅

Hi Oli! I just discovered your work from this AMA and it's really really cool! You've obviously done a brilliant job using your music to reach a ton of people who care about what you care about (climate change). I'm a much less far along musician, but I'd like to do something similar with mental health! So I have 3 questions about your experience sharing novelty music with the world:

1. What would you say has been one of your biggest wastes of time and money?
2. What would you never ever want to do again? (Not necessarily the same as a big waste - maybe something was a really crappy experience even though it was effective)
3. If you were to start over with your project, what's something you would do more of?

Thanks Oli!!

I'm not familiar with Prolog, but if ChatGPT can write code, then you're probably right. The bones of an argument map could be thought of as objects that stand in some relationships to other objects. An argument map is made up of claims and relationships between claims (supporting another claim (premise), being supported by another claim (conclusion), or objecting to another claim (objection)). If a program could generate claims and claim-claim relationships, and then visualize it, then yeah, it could make argument maps.

Thanks for sharing!! If you're interested, feel free to test it out with argument maps! I'd love to hear how that goes. I explained a bit about what an argument map is in my other comment - basically, it's a set of claims and relationships between claims (premise, conclusion, or objection - so supporting, supported by, or undermining).