Why Learn Something That a Machine Can Do for You?
This episode of 'How to Touch Grass' explores the purpose of human learning in an era of rapid technological advancement. Experts discuss how cognitive development remains a fundamental human endeavor even as AI tools automate traditional skills.
Why it matters
It addresses the existential question of human utility and the evolution of education in the age of artificial intelligence.
Technology may shape how and what we learn, but the act of learning itself is deeply human.
Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Getty. August 17, 2026, 6 AM ET Share Save Listen − 1.0 x + Seek 0:00 31:11 Subscribe here: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Pocket Casts
Children still learn long division even though calculators exist, and many people continue to study languages even as AI translation becomes faster and more accurate. Is there a deeper purpose for learning that technology will never touch?
In this episode of How to Touch Grass , the co-hosts Natalie Brennan and Julie Beck hear from Michelle Miller, a cognitive psychologist at Northern Arizona University who studies technology and learning. She explains that although the changing tides of tech may shape what and how we learn, as humans we still have the autonomy to build the minds we want.
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