higher-ed

The Chool Bus (ch26)

CHAPTER 26: The Forks go separate ways in Vegas. Jack Dean crashes out in a New Media information session addressing the Artificial Intelligence sector, where Chinese models were achieving major progress on the cheap.

The Forks agreed to meet for breakfast early. They would explore the Vegas strip in pairs, then rendezvous for dinner at Javier’s for margaritas to report on the sights and sounds of what used to be called Sin City, now more like Disneyland for adults. Professor T and Jack had business at the MGM Convention Center but Buck and Billie were free to explore the spectacle as civilians. 

Jack was looking forward to getting some insight on how his contemporaries in higher-ed were coping with the introduction and mainstreaming of “generative” and “agentic” artificial intelligence tools. At first it was easy for instructors to recognize the hallmarks of work generated by AI, but as the tools evolved and students were getting better at weeding out hallucinations and outright fabrications cooked up in those red-hot, insatiably thirsty, noise blasting, money pits better known as AI “Data Centers.” For Jack, the bottom line was this: Evaluating the quality of student work was growing exponentially more difficult.

The irony was the fact that he supported the nation’s investment in this paradigm changing technology but he was also apprehensive about the headlong pace of corporate adoption. He was a true fifth-estate evangelist…”move fast and break things” was a favored mantra. But in this case he favored a more analytic approach. Move slow, try things, learn from mistakes, keep what works, and try again seemed a more pragmatic way forward.

Unfortunately, the high-tech world moves at its own pace and with the anti-regulatory zealots in charge of all branches of Federal Government calling the shots, the AI bandwagon was more like a runaway nuclear-powered locomotive. In this era its either grab a handle or get left behind.

So Jack explained it to his students thusly: “AI is here…and just getting started,” he said. “Please do your own ethics inventory…don’t go into this era frivolously. If you land in the anti-AI camp, at least your position will be sufficiently scrutinized.” When students asked Jack what they can do to address a movement they cannot support, Jack’s response was stark. “You may be right…there may be a burst of the bubble, but if you want a career in knowledge work of any kind, really, you need to have learned how to use these tools. At the very least your interlocutours will respect you as someone who understands their world. But more importantly, if the bubble doesn’t burst and you hope to keep up in the marketplace, you really need those skills. Why? Because your competition will surely have figured out how to get ahead leaving very little chance for you to catch up.”

The “New Media” convention Jack and Professor T attended had a “content” track and a “technology” track. The “tech” session Jack absolutely didn’t want to miss concerned international competition in the development of back-end technology driving AI. Jack knew this was a point of vulnerability to the USA. Hardware and software behind the infrastructure of a handful of organizations leading the charge hoovered up billions of dollars. Jack heard other nations were charging head-first and achieving similar results on far smaller investments. Jack worried the USA was heading for an economic correction comparable to the “Dot-Bomb” debacle of the early 2000s and was determined to let the thought leaders gathered at the convention hear his Jeremiah-like barbaric yawp.

He lauded the Chinese for their cost-efficiency and open-source models. He fervently believed this innovation was too big to allow proprietary tech and knowledge-hoarding that comes part and parcel with a capitalist economic model. “This technology leverages all available information and knowledge. In other words, the intellectual output of the entire human race is hoovered up into these large language models. It’s only right to have the collective brain power of the entire connected planet working on the problems and reaping the benefits of increased productivity, quicker problem solving, intelligent resource allocation, and the evolution of sentient life on this planet,” said Jack.

“To allow an elite few to monopolize risk/reward calculations is a crime against humanity,” Jack was on fire. “China is doing it right, and we are setting ourselves up for epic failure,” Jack wasn’t the only attendee with this mindset, but he was the only one crashing out in this session. Professor T listened intently hoping Jack might take the temperature down a couple notches before concluding his diatribe. But…just in case…he chose a seat near the door.

***

In a different sector of Adult Disneyland, Billie and Buck were having a banging good time trolling sex-hustlers flicking their player cards in the faces of passers by. “Is this all that’s left of “Sin City?” Billie was mildly amused.

“I’m sure there’s still and underground economy of gamblers, pimps, and mafioso-types out there, just not apparent on the streets.” Buck was trying to reconcile images gleaned from popular movies about Vegas with the apparently mundane vacation resort feel of the Vegas they were experiencing in real-time. “Hell, they even have a magic medieval castle here with kid-friendly attractions and costumed character actors.” 

“Come on,” said Billie. “We gotta experience the Pirate raid at Treasure Island!”

“I’m afraid you’re out of luck with that one,” a friendly bystander answered Billie’s wish with some cold, hard, post-pandemic news. “There was a rumor the original pirate stunt show would be fully restored, but according to the real pirates running the casino, it was just that…a rumor. For now, the lagoon stays dry and the show doesn’t go on. Maybe a limited return in a few months, but for now, nada.”

Billie and Buck really weren’t all that disappointed. They had a grand ol’ time strolling from casino to casino, people watching mainly. So many reminders of the excesses their fellow humans love to indulge here in one of the driest deserts in the world…it’s a marvel of civil engineering, this oasis in the desert. Billie and Buck wandered around in a constant state of awe.

***

At the end of the day, the Forks met for dinner at Javier’s as planned for a few margaritas and to trade war stories. Jack was still somewhat agitated by what he felt was another case of “irrational exuberance” destined to correct itself in a much bigger way than the dot-bomb of the early 2000s. He worried about the effects a crash would have on his 401k investments, but mostly got the bile out of his system at the convention. 

The suppertime conversation was dominated mostly by Billie and Buck’s Las Vegas first impressions. The strip had so many interesting attractions…there really wasn’t enough time to see it all. But duty calls, and the Forks prepared to conduct the next round of focus-group interviews at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) first thing in the morning.

NEXT WEEK:
Focus-group interviews at UNLV complete, the Forks take a detour to Lake Tahoe for a guided boat cruise on Emerald Bay.

GO BACK => Preface and Chapter Links

The Chool Bus (ch7)

Chapter 7: After a successful initial run, the Forks return home. Mr Wellstone’s application is approved and he joins the gang for a long push through the Western States. 

As we have yet to describe Professor T to any satisfying detail, please indulge this meta moment as we more properly introduce this slightly enigmatic character. Mork J (Jehoshaphat) Thompson was born in a Kansas small town a little over 20 miles due South of Junction City, training ground for the US Army’s oldest active-duty infantry division, The Big Red One. Council Grove was named after an agreement between American settlers and the native Osage Nation allowing settlers’ wagon trains to pass westward through the area on the Santa Fe Trail. Pioneers from the established Eastern states gathered at a grove of trees so that wagons could band together for their trip west. Council Grove’s first post office was established in 1855, several decades ahead of the remaining soon to be established Western Kansas townships. 

Many a cross-country sojourner East and West can testify and joke about the flat, treeless landscape that characterizes the western two thirds of the Sunflower State. But Council Grove is nestled in the fabled Flint Hills, some of the more interesting topography in a mostly flat landscape where natives jokingly claim the state tree is the telephone pole. Due to its rocky soil, the early settlers were unable to plow the area, resulting in the prevalence of cattle ranches as opposed to the crop land more typical of the Great Plains. 

And like his Flint Hills birthplace, Mork J Thompson is a flinty soul. Almost preternaturally averse to conformist sentiments, Mr Thompson will go out of his way to defy popular trends. Short in stature, stout in constitution and bodily girth, he exudes a stern, almost severe, yet melancholy countenance. His olive skin browns fast and easy in the warmer months, rendering him fairly dark in the summer and walnut-olive in the colder months.

Mr Thompson is an avid reader and this habit served him well after the Great Recession (2007–09) cratered the internet enterprise where he landed after the breakup of The Forks. Later, after finally landing in the halls of higher ed, he adapted… his voracious appetite for knowledge served him well in contributing to the larger discipline by way of published research papers and essays.

With this latest funding grant and burning question he was able to reassemble his favorite team for a year-long expedition exploring public sentiments on politics and culture in the United States of America. Where the data leads is still a big mystery, but The Forks have the means of nimble travel and subsistence through the generous research grant. Professor Thompson is confident the eventual publications will shed illumination on the origin of the nation’s fibrillating heart. If voters and policy makers can use the results to make positive changes for the sake of the nation’s health… success!

And so, we resume where The Forks left off, conspiring to add a fourth teammate in the person of Buck Wellstone.

They say timing is everything and with Mr Wellstone between gigs he was open to some substantial changes. Recently earning his undergrad degree and ready to continue for a Master’s as his advisor told him this path was statistically the best choice for return on investment potential. Lifetime income stats showed a rather large gap between those with a high school diploma and those with a master’s degree. His serendipitous encounter with the Forks and their research mission looked to be a perfect opportunity for facilitating this transition. In the short time he had known The Forks he had grown quite fond and attached.

Professor T impressed him as honest, true and genuinely committed to the American experiment. For some reason, Jack Dean was reserving his normally suspicious tendencies after watching Mr Wellstone effortlessly defuse the potentially volatile situation in Fort Collins, and his unhurried Southern Gentleman countenance. But, if Mr Wellstone was truly honest, he would tell you it was Billie that attracted him to the Forks most earnestly.

Billie notwithstanding, he saw Professor T as brilliant, if innocent, a slightly vulnerable soul in need of a loyal aid de camp. Mr Wellstone understood and believed in the mission depending on this tight-knit team and the Chool Bus on which they rode. When he saw that Professor T failed to see danger brewing in Fort Collins, he intervened to the satisfaction of all involved, the suspicious locals went back to drowning their sorrows and Professor T retired his rather conspicuous recording rig. “Wow, that could have gone sideways in a hurry,” Jack had mused as Professor T dismantled the recording rig. 

“Ah, ‘twern’t nuthin’. That feller weren’t no Curly Wolf,” Buck drawled with his thickest cowboy affect. This, he did every once in while, never failing to produce a grin on Billie’s secretly admiring countenance. Later that evening, Professor T received clearance to process Mr Wellstone’s application. Just a couple more hurdles to clear. Mr Wellstone would sit for an interview with a department search committee, and his references would be contacted. The process would be completed in a couple weeks, then The Forks +1 would resume the Westward push, first stop, Salt Lake City.

NEXT WEEK:
The Forks prepare for a long swing through the western states. Professor T ponders a vivid dream and Abigail Weiser takes advantage of his unsuspecting nature. 

GO BACK => (Preface & Chapter links)