When Machines Do Everything, What Will We Do?

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character, that is the goal of true education.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

“Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.” —Socrates

Machines can now write essays, solve math problems, and answer questions with flawless accuracy. So what happens to us? What happens to thinking, storytelling, writing, and problem-solving when machines do it all?

In the past, people had to earn knowledge. Professors and teachers guarded the doors to information. Students had to work hard to learn literature, history, politics, philosophy, math, and psychology. They had to read, reflect, argue, and think deeply. Learning meant something.

Now, anyone can produce a well-written paper on any subject in seconds. Machines can solve math problems instantly. AI tools can summarize books, write emails, and pass university-level exams. Some people call that progress. But if no one needs to learn anymore, if no one reads, writes, or explores ideas for themselves, then we risk losing what makes us human.

“The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like humans, but that humans will begin to think like computers.” — Sydney J. Harris

Reading, writing, and thinking matter more than they ever did. Books matter. Philosophy, math, and literature are not luxuries; they are tools for survival.

“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” — Frederick Douglass

Music and art matter most in a world run by machines. Algorithms can copy styles and remix images, but they cannot feel. They cannot suffer, celebrate, or dream. Music and art remind us who we are. They express what words alone cannot. They teach empathy, stir imagination, and reveal truth. In uncertain times, it is the artists who carry the soul of a culture forward. We need young people who can sing, sculpt, paint, design, and play, not just to resist the mechanical tide, but to renew our shared humanity.

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” — Pablo Picasso“

Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” — Plato

Right now, most kids cannot afford university. Some do not see the point. But we cannot allow machines to become the only voice they hear. We cannot let automation erase curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking. We need to open up universities, fund libraries, and make music programs accessible to everyone. Professors need to teach, not just to rich students.

Let every young person access higher learning. Let kids from all walks of life dive into philosophy, science, and art. We cannot trust the future only to students from privilege who do not understand the world. We need tough, resilient, sharp-minded youth. Kids who know how to think, question, and create. Let us give them choices, pursue any subject and attend any school. Let them dream of becoming writers, scientists, leaders, builders, problem-solvers.

“What a piece of work is man!” writes William Shakespeare. “How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty, in form and moving how express and admirable.” These words remind us of the brilliance and depth within the human spirit. It is something no machine can replicate. Literature holds a mirror to that spirit, and it teaches us who we are, who we have been, and who we might become. It challenges us to think, to feel, and to grow. In an age where algorithms can mimic language but not meaning, we must protect and promote the stories, poems, and plays that help us understand the soul of humanity. Children have every piece of information and every math calculation at their fingertips. The future will need not just scrollers, cutters, and pasters, but readers and writers who carry the wisdom of the past into the storms of tomorrow. Literature and higher education is not a luxury. It is a lifeline.