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I wonder how long before students demand significant reduction in tuition fees if they lose their access to human profs and are fobbed off with chatbots.

Better to keep office hours, but offer the sub-Turing Brad chatbot online to help students with specific issues. Or you might find that students ask teh same questions, so aggregate questions and have your chatbot answer questions and have them available as a Q&A website. This could accumulate nicely over the next 5 years and save countless hours.

Also, some student questions are best answered by other students - so you may not need to be central in the information flow.

Will we commentators be abe able to discern the real vs Brad chatbot in comment replies? ;-)

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Nov 9, 2023·edited Nov 9, 2023

JH: Why does Brad Delong think humanity could have created an economic utopia during the period 1870 to 2010? Didn't he consider problems like greed, religious and ethnic conflict, great power competition and wars, limited natural resources, a population boom, and basic flaws in human nature?

ChatGPT: Brad DeLong, an economist and professor at the University of California, Berkeley, has indeed expressed optimistic views about the potential for creating an economic utopia during the period from 1870 to 2010. It's essential to note that different economists may have varying perspectives on this matter, and DeLong's views represent his own analysis.

DeLong's optimism is rooted in the significant economic progress and technological advancements that occurred during the period he mentioned. The late 19th century through the 20th century witnessed substantial improvements in living standards, increased productivity, and technological innovations that transformed societies. This era saw the rise of industrialization, improved healthcare, increased agricultural productivity, and the development of global trade networks.

While DeLong acknowledges the existence of challenges, such as greed, religious and ethnic conflicts, great power competition, and limited natural resources, he may argue that despite these obstacles, humanity had the potential to overcome them through cooperation, technological innovation, and economic development.

It's important to recognize that DeLong's perspective is based on an economic analysis, and he may not be discounting the significance of non-economic factors like political, social, and cultural issues. Additionally, the term "economic utopia" might be interpreted in different ways, and DeLong's views may be more focused on the potential for achieving higher living standards and overall economic well-being.

While DeLong may be optimistic about the progress made during this period, it's crucial to consider that the idea of a utopia, whether economic or otherwise, is subjective and can be influenced by different philosophical, political, and ethical perspectives. Not everyone may share the same level of optimism or agree on the feasibility of achieving a utopian state within a specific timeframe.

JH: Compare and contrast Brad Delong’s thesis that humanity had the ability to create an economic utopia in the era between 1870 and 2010 with Earnest Hemingway’s line “Isn’t it pretty to think so?” and Mahatma Gandhi’s question: “How many Earths would it take if everyone lived like the English?”

(I won't bore you with ChatGPT's rote answer.)

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