"University (really all education beyond teaching people to speak) will be pointless because there’s no work to do and because growing your human capital doesn’t change your life outcomes"

See this sentiment online frequently, and it feels totally wrong to me.

I went to uni to study physics not to get a job [jobs in physics payed less than jobs McDonalds where i was graduating], but to understand how stuff works because it is magnificently fascinating and weird.

Increasing your understanding and knowledge is a reward and goal by itself, isn't it? Getting a job in a field you love is amazing, don't get me wrong, but it's more about belonging and being part of community of like-minded people, than optimizing life outcomes.

AI won't change this - so what if some machine can find new things faster and better than you? It is an amazing experience to re-discover things known for centuries from first principles - will it matter all that much that you'll be rediscovering, integrating and interpreting things originally found by a machine, not by renowned scholar of the past?