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Not going to comment specifically on the judgement (I agree in general terms). However that is a vast mis-understanding of what a lot of the brain power at an

Not going to comment specifically on the judgement (I agree in general terms). However that is a vast mis-understanding of what a lot of the brain power at an investment bank goes towards. It isn't just equities it is fixed-income and economics as well. But beyond that it isn't just about valuation. It is everything from working on how to actually clear transactions, building dark pools and similar platforms, research and building very real tech on blockchain, building security and infrastructure tooling. Goldman literally invented a programming language (although it is showing it's age at this point). They make very robust Open Source contributions: https://github.com/goldmansachs/gs-collections https://github.com/goldmansachs/gs-collections (just an example). Regardless of if what they do is immoral or silly or both, they are building interesting stuff and solving hard problems. A better organization to direct a dig like that at would someone like Bridgewater, they really are just trying to value equites, and fixed-income.

jbob2000 10y ago
Right, but all of what they are doing is self-serving. They develop these things to give their client portfolios an edge over other investment firms. They aren't developing these technologies to apply them to healthcare or general science, it's just to give them an edge in the investment business. For a company of their size and wealth, their open source contributions are paltry. A handy way to deal with arrays in Java? Wow, that's game changing...
- deleted 10y ago
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- scrollaway 10y ago
  What you are saying applies to a lot of companies. Most companies in fact are essentially only self-serving, and if we're talking about open source contributions I can make an argument that outside of the big 3, nearly every valley company's FOSS contributions are paltry "for their size and wealth".
- andrevvo 10y ago
  These firms inject capital into the economy efficiently and effectively, which then allows firms access to the financial resources to develop technologies to apply to "healthcare or general science". Can you think of a better way to accomplish this? Have the state choose? I think we all know how that turns out.

jbob2000 10y ago

Right, but all of what they are doing is self-serving. They develop these things to give their client portfolios an edge over other investment firms. They aren't developing these technologies to apply them to healthcare or general science, it's just to give them an edge in the investment business. For a company of their size and wealth, their open source contributions are paltry. A handy way to deal with arrays in Java? Wow, that's game changing...

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
scrollaway 10y ago
What you are saying applies to a lot of companies. Most companies in fact are essentially only self-serving, and if we're talking about open source contributions I can make an argument that outside of the big 3, nearly every valley company's FOSS contributions are paltry "for their size and wealth".
andrevvo 10y ago
These firms inject capital into the economy efficiently and effectively, which then allows firms access to the financial resources to develop technologies to apply to "healthcare or general science". Can you think of a better way to accomplish this? Have the state choose? I think we all know how that turns out.