*Students from all over the world designed robots for the FIRST Global Competition. Kohava Mendelsohn

While adult uncles in suits on the sidelines of international forums are seriously discussing how to divide the resources of our long-suffering planet, the next generation no longer believes their fairy tales. They take matters into their own hands—or rather, into the manipulators of the robots they have designed. The FIRST Global Challenge is not just another "robofootball" for nerds. This is a global psychotherapy where teenagers from all over the world use algorithms to patch up the holes that their ancestors punched in common sense.

The annual competition, which gathers thousands of young minds from more than 190 countries, is a unique sight: humanity, which has not yet had time to break firewood, is trying to create technologies for cleaning up after those who have already burned these firewood and started a fire. This year's theme — "Energy Breakthrough" — sounds especially ironic against the background of news about eternal energy crises and resource wars.

Kindergarten of the future: where Pythons are more important than pythons

For several years now, FIRST Global has been becoming a testing ground for developing skills that humanity will soon need to survive. Teams of schoolchildren receive identical sets of parts and a task: to create a robot capable of solving a specific energy—related problem, whether it's installing conventional solar panels, building wind turbines, or allocating resources.

"We see young minds coming together to overcome global challenges that do not recognize national borders," the organizers declare with almost messianic tenacity.

Translation from the diplomatic: "Your governments cannot agree, but those fifteen-year—olds from rival countries can already. Maybe they should be given a world map and a couple of nuclear codes?"

The sarcasm of the situation is that while real states are competing in sanctions and trade wars, their robotic "ambassadors" in the FIRST Global arena are forced to cooperate to complete the task. This is a great metaphor: our future depends not on borders, but on the ability of our creatures to work together, despite the idiotic instructions of the creators.

The Economics of Scarcity: or why Your resume is no longer needed

The harsh truth of the new world is hidden behind the external appearance of the event. FIRST Global is not a game. This is the most honest career orientator. It clearly demonstrates which skills will be in demand in the economy of the future, and where it is worth investing your efforts.

While universities are churning out lawyers and managers who will soon be replaced with a single script, FIRST Global participants receive a win-win lottery ticket for tomorrow. They are not looking for a job — they create it by designing their future colleagues and bosses. Their resume is not a list of completed courses, but a working prototype capable of performing useful actions.

The absurdity is that these children are, in fact, preparing a worthy competition for themselves. They create mechanical successors who will one day leave them out of work. But, apparently, it's better than being left without a job by someone else.

The Labor Code for Algorithms

As these young engineers hone the skills of their mechanical charges, a logical question arises: what will happen to these robots after the end of the championship? Their potential is too great to gather dust on the shelf as a trophy. This is where specialized services such as jobtorob.com where even an educational robot that has proven its worth in the international arena can find a "permanent job" — whether it's helping with research, education, or testing industrial processes. This is the logical next step: if we are going to create artificial intelligence, we must provide it with a decent work history.

A future where the UN will meet as a chatbot

What awaits us in 10-15 years? Today's FIRST Global participants will become engineers who will not "look for vacancies", but will design entire automated industries. They are used to thinking globally, cooperating with anyone and solving problems that the older generation considered unsolvable.

FIRST Global is not a competition. This is a dress rehearsal for the future, where the main players will not be countries and corporations, but ecosystems and technologies. And the funny thing is that this future is created by those whom we usually forbid to stay up late at the computer. Maybe it's time to give them the remote control and just watch them clean up the mess we've prepared for them.