Close to half the of the U.S. labor pool are categorized as, "knowledge workers". Over the last 100 years, this number has increased significantly as machines now automate or replace manual labor. Essentially, people get payed now, not for how many bricks they can set with their sweat, or how much food they can grow, but for the thoughts that occur in their brains.

I remember that my early teachers used to drill students with facts. For example, "What date did X event occur?" I hope modern educational institutions place less of an emphasis on memorization because this sort of information regurgitation is now available at near real-time speed thanks to search engines like Google. Reciting facts is more of a novel trick than a helpful skill. But if all information is so accessible, how is it that 50% of people still get paid for what they know?

Decisions

There's still a massive component of cognitive horsepower where computers (though they're getting better) haven't been able to rival human minds. Complicated decisions involving hundreds of variables are very taxing for CPUs, yet human brains make these inferring-based decisions with relative ease. Thus, much of the derived value from knowledge workers aren't so much in the bits of information, but in our ability to organize and make decisions using that information.

Corporate leaders are usually far removed from the front lines of their products. If org-structures were skill based, the CEO of a coal company would be the best coal miner of the team. Instead, power and wealth flows not to muscle, but to decision makers. The best decisions earn the most.

Not everyone enjoys making decisions. We're usually not so bad at it, when the decision is for just for ourself, e.g. "What kind of ice cream should I buy?" But, when it comes to deciding what kind of ice cream to buy for the whole family, or the company picnic, we're less certain. Because we fear disappointment, and that kind of responsibility can be stressful and crushing.

Computers decide sans emotion (as far as I know). Someday, they might make all the hard choices, like foreign policy, which employees to promote, who you should date, etc. But that day isn't here yet. There's still tremendous amount of value in making quality and morally sound decisions. Are you a knowledge worker? Have you invested in improving your decision making? The choice is yours.