In an era where AI can translate languages, write code, and do long division faster than any human, cognitive psychologist Michelle Miller of Northern Arizona University has a hot take: learning things is still good, actually.

In the latest episode of The Atlantic's 'How to Touch Grass' podcast, co-hosts Natalie Brennan and Julie Beck sit down with Miller to ponder the eternal question: why learn something when a machine can do it for you? It's a question that's haunted humanity since the calculator, and now AI is coming for the more complex stuff, like coding and, apparently, whatever else we thought we were good at.

Miller, who studies attention, memory, and how tech shapes education, argues that learning isn't just about utility. It's about building ourselves, exercising agency, and connecting with humanity. 'Learning is how we build ourselves as individuals, and it's how humanity shapes its course,' she says, presumably while not using a calculator.

She points to her own hobbies - barebow archery (very low-tech, very Bronze Age) and knitting (apparently still a thing) - as proof that even 'low-tech' activities are enriched by technology. Knitting, she notes, has seen a resurgence thanks to instructional videos and online communities. So tech can help, when it's used intentionally.

But it can also hinder. Miller warns that pulling out your phone to snap photos at the Grand Canyon actually makes you remember less. The irony is not lost on her: we photograph experiences to remember them, and then we don't. Same goes for concerts - everyone's filming, and no one's actually there.

So what's the ultimate purpose of learning? Miller says it's about self-direction and social connection. 'Teaching another human being how to do something - that is one of the highest and best expressions of humanity that there is.' And yes, even if you never calculate a tip again, learning math still builds the mind you live in. As Miller puts it, 'Learning builds the mind that we live in.' So go ahead, learn to code, learn French, learn to knit - just maybe put the phone down at the concert.