Illegals, DEI, Dearborn and Your Fair Share
Bing Generated Image in Response to the Prompt: “Generate an image of the future with AI robots doing most of the work and humans supervising”
So you have a college degree now, so what?! What value does that bring to the table? Even if you have multiple degrees, and the highest degree offered in the land for God’s sake… Besides decorating the walls of your office with them, what can they do for you? I mean, after all, either you get a job through your network (who probably would have helped you get a job even without all the fancy degrees) or you draw on your network’s support to start your own company/institution/organization. The myth of “succeeding” in the “real world” with the mentality of “getting good grades in school” has been proven wrong far too many times. Street smarts are what put food on the table, and your degrees are like trophies in sports whose fans have become disenchanted. Stick to the bare minimum and sprint out to start your “real” life. Right? Not so fast.
While the reasoning above may be tempting, it has at least two fatal flaws:
(1) Knowledge is not merely pursued for the purpose of putting material food on the table. You see, knowledge is itself food for hearts and minds. It is a lifelong journey and anyone getting the short end of the knowledge “stick” is surely missing out (even if they do not sense it; kind of like how someone who has never had mulukhiyeh done well simply does not know what they are missing ––shout out to Lebanese and Egyptian cuisine, no rabbits please though).
(2) Degrees are not pursued merely for the purpose of gaining knowledge such that one should stick to a bare minimum for work or business. Rather, degrees are a testament to knowledge gained, training undergone and potential for achievement depending on and at the level of the degree conferred. One should continue reading books and learning throughout life, but degrees are a way to organize and attest to one’s mastery in a widely recognized way.
Of course degrees have become one of the key ways that job applicants are filtered and assorted, both for reasons of merit and practicality. But imagine the not-so-far-fetched world of the future, in which Artificially Intelligent Robots have taken care of most jobs that used to require entry level degree credentials, let alone most hand-labor jobs. Assuming Artificial General Intelligence does not wipe out the human race due to some unforeseen catastrophe, in some of the more optimistic scenarios AI will actually make all of our lives much more like a paradise on Earth (in terms of physical luxuries). The AI programs and robots would be doing most of the heavy-lifting, whether in calculations/processing or in labor, and human specialists will mainly take on the roles of supervisors and/or entrepreneurs. Content creators will continue to bring fresh insights to the drawing board, but likely with the help of, and in competition with, AI creators. The deeper meaning of degrees as credentials, and not as tickets to a luxurious lifestyle, will become more pronounced at that point (which may come much sooner than you think).
For when the basic standard of living has been raised to such a degree by the advancement of civilization, a university credential (or the equivalent) will likely maintain at least three social benefits:
(1) Reputable university degrees will continue to contribute to a sense of trustworthiness regarding its holder’s competence and potential for achievement, particularly in their area of specialization. This will give degree-holders a merit-based edge in competition for roles overseeing AI programs and robot operations. The higher the degree, the more distinct the merit-based edge. (As is the case today, there will also likely remain co-existing systems to establish credibility, some community/industry-specific, such as those of religious hierarchy or industry-experience).
(2) Degrees will likely serve to distinguish levels of knowledge and potential for academic achievement in an even more distinct way than they currently do. This is because, in the envisioned future, the human factor would be mainly taking on the oversight role and the main merits distinguishing humans for such functions would be their university training and/or advanced research discoveries/contributions.
(3) Degree-holders will likely be regarded as those most qualified to take on socially influential roles in their capacity as thinkers, advocates, political leaders, etc. This would be due to the increased emphasis on merits that distinguish humans in their capacity to manage AI agents (the previous two points).
Especially when it comes to ethics and making meaning of things. While it does not necessarily require a college degree to reflect on one’s worldview and address ethical dilemmas, let alone a PhD or another doctorate degree, having such degrees would indeed be expected to give someone a merit-based advantage. With the increased luxury in life, monetary wealth will likely be less of a concern to many individuals (except the most financially ambitious, whether for philanthropy or greed). At that point, popular focus will likely look beyond to expanding human civilization across the cosmos before the next cataclysmic event on Earth.
Illegals crossing the border? There will be no issue as the “aliens” will prefer to stay in the luxury of their ancestral homes and Americans will be more hospitable than ever. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)? There will be no need for such proactive policies because everyone will have a fair opportunity to work in a job commensurate with their credentials or will employ an AI robot to do it for them. Dearborn? Which one? Every town on Earth and beyond would have renamed itself “Dearborn” in admiration of the home of the Fordson Tractors (just kidding, but shout out to my hometown and alma mater), right? Except for the Dearborn joke, I am pretty serious about the rest of it though. Imagine.
And remember: On a day of reckoning, in this world or the next, remember that even the click of a button counts. When you share a post, when you like a post, you are casting a vote. In a court of justice, someone we thought was innocent might be handed a container with the blood of an innocent person slain in vain. “Why is this being handed to me? I have not murdered anyone, I have not caused such agony and pain.” In the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, the narrative goes: Such a person will be told, “You heard John Doe say so and so, you passed it along… It was shared until it reached that tyrant who then murdered him because of it. So this is your share of his blood.” (See, for instance, al-Kulaynī’s al-Kāfī, v. 2, p. 370-1).
Stop the war. Ceasefire now.
If you find these posts useful, remember to follow, like, and share. Sign up for updates and reach out for further discussion.
Update (3-6-2024): It has been brought to my attention that some may find the phrase “illegals” or the like to be detracting attention away from the suffering of many immigrants, or functioning to make such individuals out to be somehow less worthy of human dignity. Please note that the phrase “illegals” in reference to “aliens”/foreigners above refers to humans crossing the border without legal authorization to do so. The fact of doing so is in no way to be taken as a judgment of character without properly understanding the circumstances, case-by-case. It goes without saying that our shared human dignity must be honored regardless of immigration/residency/citizenship status.
Intro to this Blog
I have been considering the pros and cons of focusing this blog on a particular theme or intended readership. With all the merits of specialization, I submit that my academic specialization has me niched enough for the rest of my time on Earth, and that I will be looking forward to this blog as a more diversified avenue of expression. It will still be me, just not always the PhD dissertation mode of me. For that, I beg your pardon, you will have to wait for the occasional academic study I announce here, or read parts of my dissertation (hint to fellow academics, in particular). So you can expect this blog to shed light on the more far-reaching implications of my work as an academic, tailored to a diverse and broad readership, weighing in on current events while also contextualizing and drawing lessons from history. Without further ado, welcome to Ali Moughania’s blog!
