Ask HN: As AI becomes more capable what's the value of knowledge?

1 points by mettamage 4d ago ↗ HN

I genuinely don't know. I'm currently upskilling myself with Math Academy but I am wondering whether it makes any sense. I like the discipline and grit aspect of it though and I'm making great strides in that. So not stopping anytime soon. But I do wonder what the value will be in understanding something like math if an AI can understand it this well.

4 comments

[ 0.22 ms ] story [ 2.5 ms ] thread

1337h4xx 4d ago ↗

Do you remember the last time you used trigonometry or solved a quadratic equation in a real world scenario? That's basic math and it already has limited value. Also, see here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49405904

wseqyrku 4d ago ↗

Yeah, I wonder why they taught us arithmetic when calculators invented, we would have been totally fine by being vegetables

toomuchtodo 4d ago ↗

Why do we have the Olympics when we have machines? Why do we have libraries? Why do we have gyms? There will always be humans who want to know, and in some capacity, be strong and find their limits; sometimes physically, sometimes mentally.

Erdemli A, Audrin C, Sander D. An Integrative Appraisal Model of Epistemic Curiosity. Affect Sci. 2025 Nov 13;6(4):714-725. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42761-025-00328-7 PMID: 41694073; PMCID: PMC12894534.

ThrowawayR2 4d ago ↗

[delayed]