tl;dr: A veteran tradesman pushes back on the popular narrative that the trades are a lucrative, AI-proof alternative to college, noting that college degrees still yield higher lifetime earnings, actual tuition costs are lower than sticker prices suggest, and trades carry serious risks of injury and death. He also argues the best union trade jobs are highly competitive—not easily accessible—and that AI will likely reshape construction by bypassing manual dexterity and automating the increasingly complex cognitive demands of modern trades work.