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I memorized my multiplication tables up to 20 x 20 in a classroom with a rack of calculators hanging on the wall. There are clear benefits to learning stuff the hard way first. This is … just not a difficult or controversial pedagogical point, I think?

Matt Ford@mford.bsky.social

Ezra Klein asked Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang about AI making kids worse at math and reading. Huang’s reply: “Does it matter?” Then he said he doesn’t know his own address or phone number. “We’re going to lose some fine intellectual dexterity.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/o...

24/9/26, 4:56 pm2 reposts13 likes

Avery Davis Bell

@averydb.bsky.social

Yeah exactly. We learn lots of things to learn to think, which is...kinda the foundation for a lot of life

Matt

@differentmatt.bsky.social

Also, people quickly forget that they could do more difficult things when they were younger. I'm a much better historian today than I was in my 20s, but I couldn't recreate my dissertation now. It would just be too hard. "No one should even try to do the easy hard things" is a hell of a takeaway!