That takes me back... I was in college in the early 90's in Boulder. I wanted to make something of my life and pursue a career in science. CU was located in a giant playground, so I had to discipline myself to focus on my studies. All classes were in person back then and I used to go to every lecture and sit in the front row right in front of the prof. That helped me focus.

To this day I see the value of being on site for work even as I slowly move from the tile (lab) to the carpet (office space.) Nothing replaces being able to go drop in on a coworker and one of my favorite aspects of being in biotech/adjacent is the multidisciplinary environment. I could go chat with statisticians, bioinformaticists, process devs, IT, business devs, engineers, data scientists, legal, logistics, etc.

A college experience with intentional pause from internet distractions would be valuable these days. I can imagine using a local instance of an AI/LLM that needs to be built, trained, etc. by the students would be a good compromise.

Returning to the idea of (personal) discipline, I see much discussion (e.g. on linkedin - don't judge me, I'm looking for a job 😉 ) around employer recruiters and job candidates using AI in the job application process. It all comes down to how the tech is used. I can't speak to what employers are doing firsthand, but I can imagine 2 scenarios for a job-seeker. 1) would be using the LLM to write your cover letter, customize your CV, etc. and 2) would be using it to do some deep research on the company before reflecting and writing your own cover letter. These approaches engage your brain differently and result in different incremental amounts of personal growth.

Anyway, just some thoughts after reading your reply.