Matt Yglesias on how technological progress might change higher education:
The past couple of centuries have seen a steady increase in the market demand for certain kinds of skills. That’s meant people want to acquire these skills even if they don’t necessarily have tons of inherent motivation — they want training to earn a better living, and education as a formal process is a very useful motivational crutch. It’s at least possible that the next twist in IT will be to rapidly erode the demand for that kind of education, meaning people will be left primarily to learn things they are curious about where there is much less need for external motivation.
This is part of the reason why I believe fostering a strong and diverse set of intrinsic motivations is crucial at all levels of education. Whether or not the future Yglesias describes here comes to pass, students driven by intrinsic motivations are always going to be more passionate and engaged than students driven by extrinsic motivations.