Listen up, you hungover masses. I’m writing this at 4 AM with a bottle of Kentucky’s finest keeping me company, because that’s when the best revelations hit - right between the bourbon and the sunrise.
Some Norwegian AI expert just dropped a truth bomb that’s got me reaching for the good stuff: apparently, we’re all too stupid to survive the future. And you know what? She might be onto something.
Remember when your guidance counselor told you to pick one career and stick to it? Well, surprise - that advice aged about as well as the cheap whiskey from last night. According to Elin Hauge (who I imagine delivers these messages while watching the rest of us scramble like rats in a maze), we need to become goddamn Renaissance people just to stay employed.
Here’s the real kick in the teeth: while some tech prophet is telling everyone that coding doesn’t matter anymore because AI will do it all, Hauge’s over here saying we need to know MORE stuff. Not just a little more. A lot more. Like, “two degrees minimum” more. Jesus Christ, I need another drink just thinking about it.
You want to be a lawyer dealing with AI? Better get ready to understand stochastic modeling, whatever the hell that is. I tried looking it up, but three shots in, all the probability curves started looking like my bar tab trajectory.
And get this - the same companies that used to look at people with multiple degrees and say “this person can’t commit” are now scrambling to hire these intellectual nomads. They’re calling them “polymaths” now, which sounds better than “can’t hold down a job” I guess. Funny how that works.
The real gem in all this? Basic statistics. Apparently, most of us are too mathematically challenged to even understand how screwed we are. That’s like not knowing how drunk you are because you can’t count your drinks. Speaking of which…
But here’s where it gets interesting (pours another bourbon): Remember that Dutch government AI disaster? They built this algorithm to catch benefits fraudsters, and instead, they created a poverty-making machine. Why? Because some genius decided to implement AI without understanding the first thing about probability or risk assessment. It’s like giving car keys to someone who thinks a steering wheel is just a fancy frisbee.
The hard truth is, we’re entering an age where being a specialist is about as useful as knowing how to operate a fax machine. The future belongs to the people who can juggle multiple disciplines while understanding enough math to know why they’re probably wrong about everything.
And you want to know the really twisted part? All those years you spent becoming an expert in one field? That’s cute. Now you need to be an expert in three or four. It’s like being told you need to run a marathon, but halfway through, they mention it’s actually a triathlon. And you’re wearing flip-flops.
Hauge says we need “deep knowledge in more than one domain” to stay ahead of the machines. Deep knowledge. Not that microlearning BS where you watch a 5-minute YouTube video and call yourself an expert. Real, down-in-the-trenches understanding. The kind that keeps you up at night questioning your life choices.
So what’s the solution? Hell if I know. I’m just a tech writer who drinks too much and occasionally remembers complex mathematical concepts. But I’ll tell you this much: if you’re not actively learning something that scares the shit out of you right now, you’re probably already obsolete.
The future isn’t about knowing one thing really well anymore. It’s about knowing lots of things really well, and understanding how they all connect while the machines watch and judge us. It’s about being able to understand statistics well enough to know when AI is lying to us, and being knowledgeable enough in multiple fields to call BS when we see it.
And the real punchline? We’re all going to have to do this while holding down our day jobs, maintaining relationships, and trying not to drink ourselves into oblivion. Though that last one might just be me.
Bottom line: start learning. Learn hard. Learn deep. Learn like your job depends on it, because it probably does. And if anyone needs me, I’ll be in the corner, teaching myself advanced statistics while nursing this bourbon. At least until the numbers start making sense.
Until next time, you beautiful disasters, Henry Chinaski
P.S. If anyone knows a good tutor for stochastic modeling who accepts payment in whiskey, hit me up.
Source: Humans must adapt to AI’s fundamental changes to the labor market and the future of learning