Which skills are still worth mastering?

I don’t know what to write about this week. I didn’t use my AI agent and was mostly out in nature. It felt like vacation honestly, although I had no days off. I also felt more productive, which might have been because I barely used any social media applications.

I didn’t use my AI agent because I was visiting my hometown. Although I took the Raspberry Pi with me, I didn’t turn it on – I was too lazy to set up a guest network.¹ As for social media, it was a bit random. I came across a video by TJ Power about the worst and best dopamine habits.² The worst is doing cocaine and the best is mastering a skill.

I like the way he explains things and his perspective as a neuroscientist. He focuses mostly on the role of neurotransmitters and their evolutionary purposes. For example, he says that mastering a skill is one of the main reasons dopamine evolved in the brain. By knowing how to build a shelter or make a fire we could contribute to our group’s and our own survival. Mastering a skill therefore gives us purpose and our brain drives that by releasing dopamine.

The video inspired me to put my phone away. Instead I met friends and family, read a lot, and went mushroom hunting in the woods. A friend also introduced me to his new hobby, which I immediately adopted: listening to music on record players and buying used vinyl at flea markets. I want to put that on the list of good dopamine habits too.

It triggers your hunting instinct. See, you go to the market, scan every stall for records and dig through them next to the other hunters. Maybe you find something nice – that anticipation alone gives you a shot of dopamine. Next, you negotiate a fair price with the seller. Some go for cheap, but they may not be in perfect condition. Anyways, you take it home, give it a good clean and put it on. Maybe your partner or roommate listens with you. Sharing that moment makes your brain release oxytocin, and you feel satisfied.

This week the skills I practiced felt meaningful, maybe because no AI could do them for me. At work, it sometimes feels different. When I think about learning a new programming language, library or framework, a small voice asks whether it’s still worth it when AI can already write so much code. I don’t have a good answer to that yet, and it makes me wonder which skills are worth mastering these days. I’ll leave this post with that open question. If you have thoughts on it, I’d love to hear them.