It's one of the many signs that academia is no longer at universities. They opened the internet to give out and swap knowledge. As more people began to gain and understand, it also meant that many classes and even degrees are falling by the wayside.

I have a friend who is an architect, and he pointed out that most of the buildings he has helped design were actually put together by an engineer using a commonly used program. Then my friend made the display on those designs. He is the architect, but the technology has removed him from needing to be there. His university has decided that the best way to deal with this is by pushing insane work hours. He didn't even know what monster tasted like until classes and is now drinking it at least once a day. Then they get really into details. There is a story about one of the teachers saying the font was the wrong color black. I thought he was joking, but apparently, it is a common problem.

Now imagine the entire world of architecture, architects, and how they think and act. This entire built culture is pushing so hard, and also disappearing at the same time. They can't handle the idea of technology defeating them. They even have a type of 3D rendering software, but its kind of archaic and difficult to work with compared to Maya and even Blender. The stubbornness of being the smartest person because you are the architect is one of the very reasons why an engineer maybe replaces them.

This is just one field but think about medical science or law, or anything that technology could change a lot. Every single one of them has the same story. People who are famously stubborn and think they're the smartest people in the world not understanding how technology works, and going against it or misusing it. At the same time, everything they do is being replaced by a tech who is quite humble.

The entire academic field is full of this, and not looking outside of their bubble to see people debating and looking at stats without them. Their entire world is the encyclopedia that sits on a bookshelf, and they control what is said in it. Every class, student, teacher, and department is filled with the idea that only they put books on that shelf. Even if they put the book on Kindle, they won't recognize all of the other books written by scholars outside of their bubble. They refuse to see the change.

But there is a counterpoint. (Why yes, I am waiting for something to compile, how did you know?) No one owns an encyclopedia anymore unless they have some form of historical curiosity. We have accepted that this is not the best way to gain modern knowledge. However, we still require the piece of paper that is required to write that same encyclopedia. Society has not moved on and is having difficulties accepting this huge change. In the same way, giant companies that cover entire cities ended because we learned to telecommute, many businesses and other employers demand the acceptance of a degree to complete a job.

So, the person who just wants to study and be a student for life doesn't really know what to do. The universities are going under, and there are no jobs unless they go to university for something that is being replaced. We know what is happening, but society has not accepted it yet. We are all metal smiths facing the new factories, and wondering where we go in life.