LLMs are doomed to the proverbial technology scrap heap in a matter of years

I think I just found a technological mentor.

The apt analogy LeCun uses is of two types of students: some learn by rote memorization and do well on tests but they lack the ability to answer questions beyond the learned scope, whereas other students learn the underlying concepts and create mental models that they can use to answer a wide(r) range of questions.

Spot on! But it depends on the professor giving the test and also the field of study.

Try majoring in engineering. It's all about addressing unique problems that don't have a canned, readily available, easily memorized solution.