Why Education Should Be Humanity’s Central Focus

Leslie Valiant with 5 key insights from The Importance of Being Educable: A New Theory of Human Uniqueness.

Photo by Jaredd Craig on Unsplash

What makes human beings unique? It’s a question that has new urgency in the age of artificial intelligence, and according to renowned computer scientist Leslie Valiant, the answer lies in the way we learn. Leslie is a Professor of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at Harvard University and a winner of the Turing Prize, and he joins us now to share 5 big ideas from his latest book The Importance of Being Educable: A New Theory of Human Uniqueness.

1. The basic capability that distinguishes humans from other species is educability, a capability defined in terms of information interactions with the world.

Unlike other species, we spend much of our time looking at our cellphones, reading fiction, watching movies, or seeking information that may help us. It is as if we were machines intent on soaking up information. We are like machines that can be educated.