Sure, the internet has made started to make available the ideas and knowledge of elite institutions. And those institutions will continue to give away more info

Sure, the internet has made started to make available the ideas and knowledge of elite institutions. And those institutions will continue to give away more information and higher quality instruction. It might even get to the point where information gotten from a professor during class will be about the same quality of the information gotten from the internet. But this only helps places like MIT, even in educating the students there. The internet can't compete with real life in surrounding you with competent and experienced people. That's probably why people like PG recommend that you move to Silicon Valley, so that you can surround yourself with successful people who are doing the same things you are. And MIT giving away information only increases their brand, which lets them choose from more people. So that means that if I go to a place like MIT for grad school, I'll know that I will have surrounded myself with people who are all very knowledgeable about what I will be doing. I probably won't get that to such a great degree if I go to a school with very low standards, and I definitely won't get that if I stay home and study from materials off the internet. It's mostly about the quality and goals of the people you are surrounding yourself with.