To teach or not to teach?

Learn English and don’t extrapolate

Elon wanted to send people to Mars by 2024.. don’t listen to everything that tech bros say, being able to communicate in English is a very valuable skill to have

AI doesn’t even know how to spell. It doesn’t know very basic things that children know. I don’t think there’s any worries for the near future. Besides, learning a new language is good for your brain and helps reduce risks of certain age-related diseases.

If you had been learning English \*to get paid work as a translator\* I would say that is already a pretty bad idea; AI is going to drastically reduce the demand for human translators. I can state with near total confidence that we are nowhere near brain implants for foreign language understanding and production, if that's what you meant. My only wiggle on that is if AI really reaches some kind of escape velocity and progress wildly speeds up, but who can even plan for that world? But there are plenty of useful reasons to speak English, including for being able to maintain professional relationships and communicate person-to-person. Like, no one wants to be greeted at a hotel by an LLM. People want to feel like they have a relationship with their sales rep at a company, etc. AI can't manage a relationship yet, and the world with Blade Runner type androids walking around is \*also\* impossible to plan for. I think everyone is kind of in the same boat of it being hard to plan right now, but the alternative, you just act like there's no future and you don't have to tend your garden, is unlikely to lead to better alternatives. So keep learning English and find ways to enjoy it. Luckily you're learning the language of the world's most popular popular culture.

They say a lot of things. [Things that aren’t real and don’t matter.] Keep learning.

If AI will replace people, we will have bigger fish to fry than to worry if you wasted some time learning useful skill. But if it does not, you will NEED that skill to get better job. Maybe to control that AI.

Learning another language is not just about communication. It's a way of broadening your mind, by learning to think in different ways. Around the world, there are vast differences in fundamental attitudes, moral values, and societal norms which are truly fascinating. Gaining an understanding of different cultures makes you more wise and open-minded. Many of the finer things in life can never be adequately translated, because they have so many subtle nuances, dependent on the cultural background. (You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon.)

Learning any skill is a beautiful process that does a lot of good to you. Yes AI will replace people in lots of works, but others will open because of that just like happened with other inventions like PCs or TVs.

Eventually the sun will expand and the Earth will no longer be. Good night.