The most important skill to learn in the next 10 years

The post argues that agency is the most important skill to learn because it lets people set their own direction, keep iterating, and adapt when skills or jobs change. It also says AI raises the value of people who already have vision and can use tools without losing context.

Reading notes

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• Agency is defined as the ability to iterate without permission and keep learning through action.
• Conformity is presented as the opposite of agency, tied to cultural programming and dependence on outside approval.
• High-agency people treat life as an experiment, set goals, form hypotheses, test them, and fail repeatedly until something works.
• The post says difficult goals become possible when people develop agency instead of giving up after setbacks.
• AI is described as a tool that does not replace people who already have vision, context, and a brand mission.
• The text argues that creators need context and direction, while AI-generated content without human judgment lacks theme and personality.
• Generalists are said to outperform specialists because skills change, while vision and adaptability remain useful.
• The post connects generalism to human adaptability, tool-building, and the ability to thrive across different environments.
• It claims education and social systems often encourage conformity and narrow specialization.
• Five human capabilities are outlined: computation, transformation, variation, selection, and attention.
• The text says these capabilities are not made irrelevant by AGI because humans can still learn, build, choose, and shift perspective.
• Agency is practiced by learning from others, experimenting, identifying patterns, creating a personal process, and teaching others.
• Social media is framed as a modern arena where people can study others, test ideas publicly, and build future-proof skills like writing and persuasion.