This is one of the clearest angles I’ve seen on what might be breaking in higher education.
The core issue here seems institutional rather than technological: universities may be losing their role as coordinators of epistemic authority. They no longer fully define what counts as knowledge, who counts as an expert, or which signals remain socially legible.
AI does not replace teachers. It stress-tests the assumption that time, credentials, and institutional boundaries still map onto real learning and competence.
If knowledge becomes abundant and cheap, the scarce goods increasingly look like legitimacy, networks, and human judgment. From that angle, higher education starts to resemble a positional market more than a productivity one.
The tech story is almost a distraction from the institutional story! Universities were never just content factories, they were coordination mechanisms for epistemic authority and social legibility. AI mainly just makes it harder to pretend that time served and credentials issued still map cleanly onto competence.
The positional-market framing is uncomfortable but hard to avoid.
This is a useful article, I appreciate the research you’ve done on this subject.
I hope universities readjust to provide thorough specialised education despite the setbacks you mention; it is a great opportunity to advance in a field of interest with guidance.
it's very good...how much do you know about post-postmodernism? sometimes called metamodernism, sometimes called some kind of integral theory, many different cuts at it. Check out Jonathan Rowson and Tomas Bjorkman...
This is one of the clearest angles I’ve seen on what might be breaking in higher education.
The core issue here seems institutional rather than technological: universities may be losing their role as coordinators of epistemic authority. They no longer fully define what counts as knowledge, who counts as an expert, or which signals remain socially legible.
AI does not replace teachers. It stress-tests the assumption that time, credentials, and institutional boundaries still map onto real learning and competence.
If knowledge becomes abundant and cheap, the scarce goods increasingly look like legitimacy, networks, and human judgment. From that angle, higher education starts to resemble a positional market more than a productivity one.
Thank you. :)
The tech story is almost a distraction from the institutional story! Universities were never just content factories, they were coordination mechanisms for epistemic authority and social legibility. AI mainly just makes it harder to pretend that time served and credentials issued still map cleanly onto competence.
The positional-market framing is uncomfortable but hard to avoid.
This is a useful article, I appreciate the research you’ve done on this subject.
I hope universities readjust to provide thorough specialised education despite the setbacks you mention; it is a great opportunity to advance in a field of interest with guidance.
By the way, would you be able to give me some feedback on my latest article? Here’s the link if you’re interested: https://open.substack.com/pub/iriseswriting/p/polarised-the-identity-epidemic?r=7249n9&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay
it's very good...how much do you know about post-postmodernism? sometimes called metamodernism, sometimes called some kind of integral theory, many different cuts at it. Check out Jonathan Rowson and Tomas Bjorkman...
Thanks! I have heard of post-postmodernism but not read particularly much on the subject. I appreciate the suggestions, I’ll check them out.
Any plans on writing a book on the crisis of epistemology?