8 September 14 - 20, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents All the buzz surrounding ChatGPT has turned into free advertising for the tool, which is ultimately trying to get people to sign up and hand over the keys to their data, Krutka said. It isn’t an educational technol- ogy designed for schools. He wouldn’t ad- vise his own students to create personal accounts because many companies are scraping data to use for their own purposes. Generative AI can turbocharge the brain- storming process thanks to its instanta- neous, tailored responses. But Krutka wonders: What, then, is lost along the way? Efficiency in learning may not always be the best path forward. Thoroughly digesting a range of learning materials is an integral part of knowledge creation. Synthesis drives home valuable insights in a way that sur- face-level learning does not. “Things like generative AI, they traffic in information — not knowledge, and certainly not wisdom,” Krutka said. “When you have to synthesize material, it makes you have to think through it in a way that the thinking is deep and requires a deep understanding.” Relying on ChatGPT to get through school will likely have real-world implications. Everbach said if students cheat their way to a degree using ChatGPT, they may carry that tendency over into their careers. Cheat- ing in the workplace can, in turn, damage companies and entire industries — some- thing easily seen in journalism, for instance. (Think: Fabricated stories by news anchor Brian Williams and former reporter Stephen Glass, and the ammo that those scandals lent to the “fake news” narrative.) ChatGPT’s ripple effects could also turn out to be quite tangible. “You don’t want to have an engineer who cheated their way through engineering school and cheated their way through the industry, because you’re going to have roads and bridges that fall down,” Everbach said. Of course, kids have long sought to cut corners in college, including through meth- ods like SparkNotes’ book summaries. But Everbach hopes that students will be dis- suaded from using ChatGPT as a crutch. Do young people really want to fake their way through school? Don’t they want to learn how to be an authentic, productive citizen in the workplace? In the world? This early on in the AI’s lifespan, Everbach said, it’s sort of like the Wild West. It will likely offer real benefits, but no one can predict with certainty all of its far-reaching repercussions. The ChatGPT panic may soon start to wane, but it’s clear that the technology isn’t going anywhere. “We can’t really run away from it. It’s here,” Everbach said. “So, we’re just going to have to figure out how it can be used respon- sibly, and what is fair and honest.” ▼ WEATHER TRIPLE-DIGIT WORRIES HEAT GOT YOU DOWN? YOU COULD BE SUFFERING FROM ‘ECO-ANXIETY.’ BY SIMONE CARTER S ummer 2023 has been particularly brutal, as evidenced by the county’s spike in heat-related illnesses. But the punishing weather is also apparently in- flicting some psychological damage. Extreme heat can lead to “significant mental health impacts,” including height- ened anxiety and stress, said Karen Magruder, assistant professor of practice at the University of Texas at Arlington’s School of Social Work. Reduced cognitive functioning in areas like memory, concentration and decision- making can occur, she said. Our moods may suffer, and studies have shown that extreme heat exacerbates aggression. “Having more of these extreme heat events is a reminder that this is the new nor- mal and that our climate is changing,” Magruder said. “So, in addition to coping with the nuisances of it happening here and now, people are increasingly seeing the trends and patterns — and becoming scared, worried, concerned about what this means for their future quality of life.” If you’re stressed about climate change, you definitely aren’t alone. Around 68% of U.S. adults have reported feeling anxious about the phenomenon and its effects, ac- cording to a poll published in 2020 by the American Psychological Association. There’s a term for such feelings, too. Eco-anxiety describes feelings of help- lessness, fear and distress over the state of the environment and the future of the planet, Magruder said. Eco-grief, mean- while, relays feelings of sorrow over some- thing that’s already happened, such as indigenous tribes mourning the loss of na- tive lands. Put another way, eco-anxiety is forward- facing while eco-grief is rooted in the past. And, Magruder said, eco-anxiety is be- coming more common: “We are seeing defi- nitely an increase that’s being reported across the board, particularly among younger generations who have concerns about the long-term consequences of the cli- mate crisis.” Susan Clayton, professor of psychology at Ohio’s College of Wooster, recently penned a column for Time titled, “Don’t Ignore Your Climate Anxiety.” She told the Observer that exposure to heat waves and higher tempera- tures has been associated with threats to mental health. Researchers have noted in- creases in suicides, psychiatric hospitaliza- tions and suicidal thoughts. Exercise and social activity take a hit in high heat as well, Clayton said. People aren’t as inclined to go for walks, for instance, meaning they’re less likely to chat with their neighbors. “These kinds of interactions do have a positive impact on our mental health,” she said. “We are kind of losing some of those social interactions and experiences that tend to have a positive effect, so we’re losing something that’s probably significant.” Many cities, including Dallas, are work- ing to boost tree planting and expand public green spaces, in addition to opening cooling centers. Clayton said such offerings can act as a counterweight to temperature spikes. Some folks simply aren’t able to escape the heat, though. Agricultural and other out- door workers may not have the option to stay home during the hottest parts of the day, Clayton said. Extreme heat especially hurts people of lower socioeconomic status, who are less likely to have air conditioning. And poorer areas tend to have fewer trees, she added. “There have been studies that have found as much as a six-degree difference between the rich parts of town and the poor parts of town,” Clayton said. It’s important to “be aware that even though we’re all suffering, some people are suffering more than oth- ers.” While environmental concerns have led to some positive changes, like greater advo- cacy for greener policies, Magruder points out that they’ve also inspired less-than- happy decisions. A growing number of people are refrain- ing from having children, she said. Some are considering moving to other regions to es- cape extreme heat and worsening weather events. Experiencing feelings of eco-anxiety is a “very valid response to a real threat,” Magruder said. “Seeing lots of things on the news — sci- entific reports with increasingly dire projec- tions and outcomes — understandably triggers a fear response,” she said. “And so, it makes perfect sense from an evolutionary- psychology perspective that we would react that way and have those concerns.” It may be easy to fall into psychic numb- ing, whereby one becomes avoidant, Magruder said. Doomscrolling right before bed might not be the wisest move, but har- nessing that worry and fear can push people to participate in the solution. Magruder advises North Texans with eco-anxiety to exercise self-compassion, and to: Reduce isolation. Surround yourself with like-minded people who similarly care about environmental issues and can empa- thize.Prioritize self-care. Actions like journ- aling, exercising and getting good sleep can help you in the long term. Practice mindful- ness. Apply a non-judgmental awareness to the present moment and get grounded in the here and now. Seek professional support. If the aforementioned suggestions don’t work, know that a growing number of mental health professionals are focusing on eco- anxiety. Don’t underestimate the impor- tance of personal sustainability in the broader eco-sustainability effort, she added. “You need to fill your own cup and put your own oxygen mask on first before assist- ing other passengers, so to speak,” Magruder said. “That way, you’re coming from a place of wellness, and that’s going to be a better foundation for you to handle these stressors and concerns.” ▼ TRANSPORTATION ROBOT CARS GONE WILD HOW WILL DALLAS POLICE ISSUE A TICKET TO A DRIVERLESS CAR? BY KELLY DEARMORE A t the end of the 1986 film, Back to the Future, Doc Brown, played by Christopher Lloyd, tells Michael J. Fox’s Marty McFly that they would soon be traveling into the future to the year 2015, and that where they were going, they “don’t need roads.” Clearly, they weren’t time traveling to Dallas. Of course, as the population continues to increase and the supply of flying cars re- mains at zero, we need more roads and road repairs than ever before. The future is no doubt here, and so too are driverless cars, which were also once merely a hopeful vi- sion for the future. In 2012, a driverless car collaboration between Toyota and Google was licensed in Nevada. Audi, Tesla, Lyft and Uber have each been among the top players in the self-driving game over the past decade as well. Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Detroit are among the cities that have welcomed testing of driverless taxis in recent years. Last year, Dallas was one of the sites for driverless freight truck testing. Cruise, a subsidiary of GM, has made quite the splash with “robo taxi” programs in San Francisco, Phoenix and Austin. And now Dallas is beginning to see its day in the autonomous vehicle sun thanks to Cruise beginning initial testing here and in Hous- ton back in May. We’re still a few months away from the fully operational commercial Cruise offer- ing, but a spokesperson for the robo taxi pro- vider told the Observer that it took Unsplash Eco-anxiety is becoming increasingly common, especially when it comes to younger folks. Unfair Park from p6 >> p10
