alt Hacker NewsThe value of the exercises you do in school (from sums to PhDs) is the learning you get from them. Good, because you need people to learn stuff, because the people that know stuff will be dead in a few years and you need to replace them.
Except, if machines can do the exercises up to the PhDs, you probably don't need those brains in the future, at least not as many as before. You might need only the brightest ones, and who knows for how long? The next ten years?
Yes, that at least is a valid argument. I do’t really agree with it though. Humans need meaning and purpose in life. Intellectual pursuit is that meaning or purpose for a lot of people. The Educational institutes might change drastically from how they have been in the last few centuries, but people will never seize learning. The act of learning is in itself incredible rewardig to many people.
> at least not as many as before. You might need only the brightest ones, and who knows for how long? The next ten years?
Then those with power will keep it and pass it on to their heirs, and some without will try to finesse it but the masses will be told “we don’t need you”. I think in a lot of ways, this is similar to how feudal societies were. Maybe humanity will pass through another phase of that. Maybe we already are. But I think it won’t last either.