I believe you are talking about a replacement institution which would be internet. I stand by my point: "the skills universities claim only they can give you is

I believe you are talking about a replacement institution which would be internet. I stand by my point: "the skills universities claim only they can give you is freely available.", "A handful of search queries and a ton of reading are all you need to get started." this is simplistic (i would describe this stance as nihilist but perhaps you won't like the connotation). I get your idea, free knowledge makes current-world universities redundant, sure, that's fine. But this content is not a byproduct of ethernet cabels (not even commoditized and ubiquitous), it is created and maintained by people (grouped in free and fun learning and self-help communities much like OP defends). This should explain why i think you are talking about replacement institutions. Now for the optimism part: the fact that the internet fosters this kind of communities is not a given, it's enabled by having community-friendly internet. And this internet is currently being steam-rolled by corporate and state interests. Or better said, it is niche, just like it always has been. And funnily, this niche always had a sizeable intersection with academics, albeit outsiders. So yes, universities should be put upside down and shaked, and they could learn a lot from the internet, perhaps you'd say "get absorbed into". But the concept of enabling groups of people to maintain and create public-interest information using experiment and formalism won't go anywhere. This is the concept OP talks about when they say "university".