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The release of ChatGPT to the public at the end of last year had many in the field of education worried. In response, this paper explored the future of college education and artificial intelligence (AI). First, a proper understanding of how large language models (LLMs) “train” and “learn,” along with their abilities and limitations, was established. Simply put, while LLMs produce plausible linguistic output, they are “stochastic parrots” that have no actual understanding of language. Next, we examined the dangers of generative AI and discovered that they might help in the creation and dissemination of misinformation. Even if these AI are not used with malicious intent, the fact that their training data sets are drawn from the internet—which reflects majority thinking—means that they can perpetuate and amplify social inequality and hegemonic stereotypes and biases. On the other hand, if we consider what is missing from the training data, it is only natural that marginalized voices should be even more marginalized. In addition, leaving the issue of the socially vulnerable aside, LLMs can only be trained on digital data, meaning analog data is ignored. This is in line with the idea of “the destruction of history” put forth by Joseph Weizenbaum, an early critic who warned of the dangers of artificial intelligence. We then discussed the relationship between humans and machines and considered which relationships were problematic and which were desirable. Researchers in the aviation industry recognized the problem of automation bias from an early date, but this phenomenon can be seen in other areas of society as well. Put simply, if a human places too much trust in a machine, they abdicate their decision-making responsibility to that machine and thus fail to respond quickly to solve any problems that may arise should that machine malfunction. LLMs do not endanger lives in the same way that airplanes do, but a similar bias can be seen with them as well. A more important issue, though, is the fact that people are no longer seen as whole human beings but as computers. This tendency was evident long before the advent of computers, for example in the attempts to quantify human intelligence through IQ tests, but it is a problem we must be particularly wary of in the age of AI. Lastly, we considered means for college education to find its way in the present situation. Educators in the US in particular, while dealing with ChatGPT, have pinpointed not the LLMs themselves but the “transactional nature” of education as the problem. That is, they argue that education has long since become less a process of learning and more a transaction in which students receive grades and degrees. Given this transactional environment, it is no wonder that student would rely too much on ChatGPT. This over-reliance, however, comes with side effects: not learning how to think properly, a lack of sufficient academic information, and learning an AI-based writing style. In response, US educators have proposed both “stick” (strategies that make it difficult for students to use LLMs) and “carrot” (strategies that encourage students to learn like human beings, not algorithms) solutions, but the heart of the matter seems to be a sense of responsibility. Creating an educational environment in which students can develop a sense of responsibility for themselves is the path forward for education in the age of AI. If we do this, LLMs can become a useful tool rather than an enemy to fear.

In this paper, I attempted to explore the historical and geographical specificity of the space represented in Kim Si-seup’s novel Playing Jeopo at Manboksa Temple. The spatial setting of this novel is Namwon-si, Jeollabuk-do. Kim Si-seup actually traveled to Honam in 1462 when he was 28 years old and reflected his experience of exploring the Namwon area, including Manboksa Temple, in the creation of the novel space. Therefore, the place names mentioned in this novel serve as an important clue to the historical and geographical approach as actual places in Namwon town. The work of specifically defining the novel’s space in this way is expected to help understand the meaning of the novel’s narrative and the author’s creative consciousness. Places worth mentioning in connection with the narrative of this novel include Manboksa Temple, Jiri Mountain, Gaeryeong-dong, and Boryeonsa Temple. Manboksa Temple maintains its sense of place through Manboksa Temple Site in Wangjeong-dong, Namwon-si, Jeollabuk-do. What is noteworthy about Manboksa Temple’s location is that it is located near a densely populated area of private houses near Namwon Eupseong Fortress and has existed as a temple for a long time, granting the wishes of the people of the town. And Jiri Mountain is the last place where the novel’s male protagonist, Yangsaeng, was seen, and is closely connected to the ending of the novel. Yangsaeng goes missing after saying he was going to Mt. Jiri to dig up medicinal herbs. From this ending, we can read his desire to protect his one and only love. Meanwhile, the fact that the ridge of Jiri Mountain can be seen in the distance from the grounds of Manboksa Temple implies that the starting point of this novel also encompasses the space that hints at its lonely ending. Boryeonsa Temple is a temple located at the foot of Boryeon Mountain, and its location is presumed to be Bangchon-ri, Geumji-myeon, Namwon-si, Jeollabuk-do. This place contains the climactic moment of the novel when Yangsaeng, who was immersed in love with the heroine despite her many suspicious circumstances, was ultimately forced to accept that the heroine did not belong to the human world. Gaeryeong-dong is a space where the anonymous heroine mainly belongs, and Yangsaeng came to fully trust and love the woman during the three days he spent there. This is also the temporary burial place of the female protagonist who was sacrificed during the Japanese invasion of Namwon in 1379 or 1380. I was the first to raise the inference that this Gaeryeong-dong is the valley below Gaeryeongamji in Deokdong-ri, Sannae-myeon, Namwon-si, Jeollabuk-do. Gaeryeongam was a temple near Jeongnyeongchi on Jiri Mountain, located on the road from Namwon, Jeolla Province, to Hamyang, Gyeongsang Province. The temple, built during the Goryeo Dynasty, no longer exists, leaving behind only a few traces. Kim Si-seup passed through this place in 1462 on his way from Namwon to Gyeongju via Hamyang. What is noteworthy about the location of Gaeryeong-dong is that it is located within the area of Jiri Mountain. This helps us understand the movements of the ending, where Yangsaeng enters Jiri Mountain and goes missing. For Yangsaeng, Gaeryeong-dong was a place engraved in his heart as it was the place where he spent the longest time with the heroine. When Yangsaeng, who valued one love more than Buddhist liberation, went to Gaeryeong-dong to check for traces of the woman, he had already entered Jiri Mountain. When he disappeared into Jiri Mountain, he had only gone a little deeper from where he originally was. Gaeryeong-dong, located at the starting point of Jiri Mountain, becomes an important coordinate in the movement of Yangsaeng who disappeared without having lost his one and only love.

The study looks into the perception of intellectuals by focusing on public leadership for conflict mediation and the narrator’s views as described in literature related to legal folktales, also known as 訟事說話 (folktales dealing with trial processes). These folktales depict not only the trial processes of civil or criminal cases but also the complete case-solving process from the initiation of disputes to the investigation process and the final verdict related to the general administrative tasks of local officials. In the legal folktales written in literature, a diverse panorama of human lives unfolds, and the views of narrators consistently are biased. They prioritize Confucian ideology as an absolute value, unilaterally force a patriarchal societal order, and take it for granted to approve the class superiority of the nobility and to sacrifice individuals within family or kinship communities over individual self-realization in the public area. The narrators representing the consciousness of noblemen maintain distorted and biased perspectives towards lower social classes and women. The narrators who depicted the manifestation process of public leadership mediating various conflicts attentively observed the wisdom and judgments of several judges and consistently evaluated based on the values held by noblemen. They assessed the trial processes from their subjective standpoint but showed indifference to the impacts on the common people. They exclusively worried about a collapse of the communal order set by the nobility while ignoring the suffering of the socially disadvantaged who suffocated under such a stringent social order. The narrators evaluated the judges’ decisions by focusing on the defense of the social order that noblemen aspire to. At that time, those who read literary tales were all nobles with proficiency in Chinese like the writers. Those who read the literary tales in the Joseon Dynasty identified their social homogeneity as nobles while solidifying it. Reflecting on the literary utility of reading legal folktales, training for empathy to see from another’s perspective is the purpose of reading literature. In the legal scenes illustrated in legal folktales, there are plaintiffs and defendants, judges, and mediators as well as narrators who consistently observe and narrate. Readers can have an opportunity to interpret the ongoing dispute process from various angles through the perspectives of these diverse characters. Those who read also contemplate the fairest judgment, putting themselves in the shoes of a mediator. This process demands legal folktale readers for psychological tasks of empathy and self-reflection towards others. At that moment, moral imagination is required.