[A8C] What should my kids study now??
Some recent questions I've been discussing with various people about how to adapt in a world increasingly dominated by technology
Feelings of Despair
“My oldest son is applying to university these days,” a senior investor told me over lunch early last year. “But I honestly have no idea what to advise him to study”
With decades of success in business and a deep technical background, she was still unsure: Should her kids double down on STEM to stay relevant?
Or pivot entirely to psychology, philosophy, or other humanities as the “last bastions” of uniquely human value in an AI-driven world?
Many have asked me the same question these last few years
and as a father, I have asked myself the same question many times
The False Binary
However, I believe this binary question also misses the real point
It’s not so much about what you study; rather, it’s about how you study
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, captured it pretty well:
“AI can handle the tasks. Your job is to decide what’s worth doing and why it matters to others.”
The Learning Competition
I recently attended a DeepTech & DefenseTech conference, where one particular statement stood out:
“War is a learning competition”
War undeniably brings out humanity’s worst, yet it reveals our species’ core advantage:
Humans where never the fastest nor strongest,
But we can learn, adapt, and apply new technologies faster than any other species
We can achieving asymmetric leverage from understanding natural fundamentals
and in that way dominate our surroundings and basically the entire planet
The Advantage of Systems Thinkers
Historically, an advanced college degree could offer temporary advantages in the jobs market
Like petroleum engineering during an oil boom
or mobile app development during the rise of smartphones
But such specialized, tactical knowledge quickly becomes outdated when a new technology comes along
The ones who consistently thrive across disruptions are typically those who've studied fundamental, discovery-oriented disciplines
Systems thinkers
Disciplines that teach you how to discover, analyze, and adapt
I saw this firsthand at Goldman Sachs in the early 2010s
Roughly 80% of my graduate cohort didn’t have anything close to finance degrees
Instead, they were mathematicians, physicists, engineers, philosophers, psychologists, and classicists
All systems thinkers, more interested in questions starting with “Why…” rather than “What…”
Prompt Engineering vs. Physics
“Why study something as abstract/theoretical as physics when employers are hiring prompt engineers today?”
Prompt engineering is undeniably extremely valuable right now (I recently shared some guides on how to do it on LinkedIn)
But it’s a tactical skill
Immediately useful but potentially short-lived.
Marc Andreessen of a16z has a good quote on this:
“Don’t optimize for learning the current thing. Optimize for learning how to learn.”
Understanding why prompt engineering works
the logic behind stochastic neural networks, statistics, and system,
rather than just how to get a good answer from the latest LLM
That is foundational
LLMs evolve
Mathematical principles remain
Learning to Learn: The Hard Stuff
My advise to my friend came pretty immediately
We live in a world of accelerating technological progress
So fast that no single human can remotely keep up
Thus, learning how to quickly grasp new concepts, adapt systems and frameworks, and willingly discard outdated beliefs is critical
Prioritize subjects that force deep, adaptive thinking
Even if they initially seem irrelevant / inaccessible compared to the "current hot skill"
Jeff Bezos used a similar approach when developing his strategy behind Amazon:
“What's not going to change in the next 10 years?'
Last quote, this time from Kevin Kelly
“The future belongs to those who know how to imagine it.”
Teach your kids to imagine, not just to memorize
To question, not just to code (although learning to code is a great way to learn how to think and question)
Learning is how we've always navigated disruption
and it’s how we'll continue to win
About Me
Working at the interface between frontier technology and rapidly evolving business models, I work to develop the frameworks, tools, and mental models to keep up and get ahead in an increasingly Technological World.
Having trained as a robotics engineer but also worked on the business / finance side for over a decade, I seek to understand the asymmetric developments that truly shape our world
You can also find me on X, LinkedIn or www.andreasproesch.com