A.I. Threatens Our Ability to Understand the World Highlight

Princeton’s D. Graham Burnett claim that literacy is a historical aberration, no longer fit for this world. Outside a few elite institutions, Dr. Burnett argues, there will soon be no point in asking students to read books. Teachers should instead ask students to “do stuff” with short texts: “Sing them. Memorize them. Cut them up into little pieces and stick them on the walls.” In other words, we ought to welcome a return to a society where functional literacy is reserved for the privileged few.