is there actually a point to learning new things right now?
taking a gap year because i have no idea what to learn, or if it will even matter by the time i am done. feels like studying for a world that is already gone.
dad was a programmer and did startups. i liked coding in school and thought that was the path. now it feels dead. like why train for a job a machine already does.
mom is a doctor. maybe that lasts longer, but i am not a doctor type. she said some doctors barely have to deal with people who are not under anesthesia, like certain surgeons and interventional radiologists. cool. still idk if even that survives 5 years.
so what are you learning? what do you still think is still worth learning? not "read more books because books are good" actual skills.
anyway. i think i am just lost.
Well. I wanted to study math.
Now LLMs got good enough at it that the field is having a public nervous breakdown: the Leiden Declaration (june, imu-endorsed). Then 25 fields medalists, Tao(!) included, putting their names on A Severe Misalignment of AI in Mathematics / mathandai.org. The sudden line is: mathematics is not about solving problems, it is about "conceptual understanding, insight, fertile ground, the long absorption of ideas into a human mind".
Which is funny, because for decades the "Math industrial complex" they built did not reward system thinkers: it rewarded theorem-proving robots grown out of math olympiad kids of math professors. The scoreboard was the unsolved problem. Now the scoreboard is being eaten by something that does not need being lucky to be born in a math/physics professor's family, being lucky to find a good advisor, etc., and the arrogant club that sat on the pedestal for doing "the most intellectually challenging thing a human can do" is now crybaby club writing petitions. That part made me review a lot of what I used to treat as sacred knowledge and people I worshiped.
I still think learning mathematics is one of the best things you can do: at the very least as brain fitness. A fit body is just better equipped than an unfit one for whatever task; same with a mind - math is calisthenics for the brain. Calisthenics does not make you a mountaineer, but it makes you fit enough that real mountaineering (not hiking!) is even on the table.
That is the one useful frame I have found for our situation.
BTW, as @monerostar said, you are not supposed to pick What You Will Be For The Rest Of Your Life while the ground is moving: that demand is what is eating you, and it is a fake demand!!! In uncertainty the things worth learning are the ones that make you fit (physically and intellectually) for different problems.
Legs-on-ground skills never hurt. IMO do things that pay cash: I have done things for cash back when I was not allowed to work: from catalog modeling to rope access jobs to being part of physical pentesting groups ))). And BTW I never chose them in the identity sense: I just needed money :)
I think your main problem is this: you feel like you "need" a path in theory. You do not yet have a real sense that you actually need one. Theoretical need produces your paralysis. Only urgency produces motion. You cannot think your way into a vocation from the couch while asking the internet to guarantee the vocation will still exist ))
IMO, coding is not dead: the junior-who-types-what-a-machine-already-types version is. Medicine is not dead either, trades, hands, diagnosis-in-the-real-world, anything where the bottleneck is still a human standing in a place and being held liable for the end result... None of them require you to marry them forever!
Experiment with something that puts physical cash in your hand this month.
You asked what is still worth learning: making yourself fit for many things including still learning math and other things as brain's fitness, well, at least that is what I am doing now, among other things.
You will be fine. Not because the world is fine. Because a person who can move, think, and get paid (whatever it takes!) is harder to break than a person waiting for the correct five-year plan. You are already on a Monero forum. You will be fine. <3
the math part is ugly and i believe it. same pattern as coding.
brain and general fitness i get.
you are right that "pick what you will be forever" is eating me. it still does not feel fake from where i am sitting.
had to search rope access jobs. that is cool. the other stuff about you is surprising too.
cash this month is the part i can actually use. not marry a job. just get paid for standing somewhere and being liable.
thank you for writing this long. it is really helpful. talking here helps more than anything.
Just saw on twitter: "sometimes the experiences you'd never choose are the ones that push you exactly where you needed to go." 🫶
You don't learn new things just to learn them you learn them to make your life better.
Learn to cook a new meal, learn to be consistent and go for walks, learn how to view the world on a better term.
You sound like you are pinning learning to some degree or some societal expectation of what you are suppose to learn. Don't buy into that pressure. Life isn't suppose to be a pressure cooker like that.
When in reality you could just go out and learn.
Everyday I wake up and I learn and I'm 45.
I learn something about my family, house, yard, my computers, my fitness, my health and more.
I'm always learning.
But that is my mindset and I do it for myself not anyone else.
So maybe start small and do something you like already. Just try to learn something new about it everyday.
thanks for the replies @monerostar and @XMR_plug.
i get survival skills like cooking. i just do not like it.
the walks and "view the world on better terms" part is not what i meant.
right now it feels like i have to pick what i will be for the rest of my life, and if i pick wrong the whole thing is wasted. that is the part that is eating me.
well, where im at the trades is doing really well
do you mean farming? or like actual trades. do you think it will last long enough?
actual trades like HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing. And each one has so many niches you can specialize in. I think they’re a great way to go and you don’t need college for any of them. It may be a tough sell for your parents though.
"tough sell for your parents" you got the main problem and that is an understatement.
college is non-negotiable. they only agreed to this gap year with terms. so i am trying to decide fast what to do.
even thinking some kind of military just to be able to move out and they teach you stuff. hate that this is on the list. still on it.
damn I’d much prefer my kid go to the trades over the military. a lot of military ppl end up going to the trades after. the military does have its benefits but with so many wars going on it’s scary. you can go to college for le trades but it’s not a requirement so that may help.
I agree with @xmr_plug my kids would not go into the military over a technical school for a skilled trade.
I'm not sure how military and skilled trades work in your country. I'm unfortunately Canadian hoping soon just an Albertan though.
If there is a path through Military that allows you to pursue one of the easier paths that is more technical and out of the war aspects that is legit.
Your job should be in this gap year then to gather all the information and present your cases to your parents.
They only hold their future in their hands if you don't fight for it or give them a reason not to.
If my kid came to me with a well thought out plan if respect that and the man he is becoming.
You can't say survival skills and do not like it in the same sentence.
You are young I get it but the reality is life is hard and you will have to do plenty of things in life you do not like.
Those things will make your life better.
That's where you learn to be resilient, gain confidence and overcome things.
If you had all of those you wouldn't be wandering aimlessly like you are now.
Learning isn't easy.
What you need to learn to do is to try and push through.
As for having to pick.
Pffttt that's BS you don't have to pick shit.
Be whatever you want to be.
I'm on my 5th career in my life. I've lost more money than you could imagine and started over 3 times.
If you are a young man what you need is a trade where you use your hands and you are out in the world. HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and more. Those are all excellent hands on careers for men.
Go the STEM route and you will be set for life.
You will learn and earn forever.
i get that life is hard and that you had to start over more than once that part actually helps. thanks.
survival and liking it are not the same thing. i will do the stuff that keeps me alive. i just do not want that to be the whole answer.
"be whatever you want" is the part that does not fit my situation. college is non-negotiable. mom only agreed to this gap year with terms. so i am trying to decide fast.
as i said, even thinking some kind of military just to be able to move out. seems like military will stay relevant as long as there are nation-states. a friend decided to go that route and do some drone stuff. does not feel right.
I'm currently learning extreme vocals and writing lyrics in English.
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At some point (if people will not all be dead), AI will help to improve human cognitive abilities, so humans won't stop learning. Keep that in mind.
I bought a neurointerface (non-invisive, EEG-based) some time ago, but didn't have time to experiment with it yet.
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Also I spend a lot of effort to improve my communication skills -- both public and personal. Take initiative in social life, orginize local events, write and give talks, etc.
Also consider electrical engineering and mechatronics. These should continue to be long-term fields. Learning as much as you can about electricity and electrical systems should serve you well.
dont think paychecks. think profits. A students work for C students and B students work for the government. Find a way to help people and do it expertly then scale. buckminster fuller said all sensible young men should be disollutioned with corporate work becoming the inspector of the inspectors inspector watch the man manipulate matter. Become the man moving matter my friend.
that last part actually landed. paycheck vs profit. i have been stuck thinking in jobs and degrees so this is useful. what are you doing now? and what did you have to learn to do it?
work on business but i dont work in them. when people complain as they love to i listen. i wonder how i could genuinely help them, how many other people have this problem, how painful is the problem, would they be willing to pay for a solution. There are millions of things to learn but identifying business is a very high paid unpaid skill
thank you. talking here and thinking out loud actually helps.
Can AI code, yes, but if an AI is paired with a human it gets better. If the human makes a mistake at 3am because they're tired, the AI is likely to pick it up and fix it. And if the AI does something stupid, the human is likely to pick it up and fix it. So, both working together is better than either one working alone.
With that said, you might want to pick up a physical skill like pool maintenance, or electrician, or plumber, or something like that. Something that needs physical work.
Robots that can do those sorts of jobs are on the way, but they are not nearly as close as coding robots. Also, a physical robot doing a physical task can only be in one place at once.
Coding bots will be all over, physical bots cost major money and will be slower to roll out.
yeah. coding only works if you already know when the bot is being stupid. that is a babysitter senior job for a machine that is getting better every second. still trying this. the physical thing makes more sense. i am trying to use this year to pick a skill, like an apprenticeship maybe. i just do not know which one. i did not want that to be the whole decision. do you have to learn new skills yourself rn?
Not yet, but i am keeping an eye out
also. i asked because i thought it was not just me.
even if you are already an adult with a job, it feels like you still have to learn some new more relevant skill now or you get left behind. i wanted to know what skill you think is still relevant.
i did not mean self-sufficiency. i meant what kind of jobs will still be relevant in like 5 years.
More jobs than you think will be relevant in 5 years. Becoming a doctor takes 12 years after college on average just to finish your residency, but even then, it will still be relevant. Emergency services and emergency medicine are very high stress and low return on investment, but they will continue to be relevant for a really long time.
Instead of focusing on the theoretical possibility of any single job being obsolete in a few years, focus on finding something that you enjoy learning. For the most part, there will be at least several skills that you learn from any profession that transfer to a different profession. If the job you choose does become obsolete, there is not too high of a chance that it will have been all for nothing.
the 12 years thing is exactly what scares me. i keep seeing the same split online. coding and reading med scans are the first things people try to automate. hands-on stuff with liability is what they say lasts: trades, emergency work, actually cutting or putting a needle in a person. not any job that is just staring at a screen. so mom's interventional radiology pitch makes more sense than regular radiology. still do not like the idea of becoming a doctor. transferable skills i get. it still feels like this world takes you hostage and forces a choice you do not want.
Cooking is a great one and so is processing chickens and other animals, growing your own food etc.