4 ms·

What are "useful" jobs?

by tybris 15y ago

gubatron 15y ago
figuring out how to generate power cleanly and cheaply on every home in the world. A whole continent like Africa would surely have a great use for cheap+clean energy generation. making self driving vehicles. creating better battery technology. figuring out a way to get rid of lawyers. working on super intelligence. brain computer interface (the one input mechanism that would do away without keyboards) augmented reality projection straight to your visual cortex, no more computer monitors would only be the beginning of something like that. robotics robotics robotics space exploration deep sea exploration longevity research ...
- amcintyre 15y ago
  The problem seems to be that there's not much demand for people to solve those problems (not that I agree that all of those are worthy goals, particularly the "get rid of lawyers" bit). Solving some of the things you mention could produce immense benefits for everybody, but it seems like the common wisdom is that it's too risky to pay people salaries equivalent to "finance/entertainment/social media smart people salaries" to work on them, at least not in the same quantity as those industries hire. Finance, entertainment, and social media companies are out there digging through resume sites and college campuses, actively looking for smart people to solve problems, because they are really sure they can make enough money to compensate them well for their efforts, and have a lot left over. I'd love to work on energy generation, space exploration, brain computer interfaces, or longevity, but I expect I'll be working on more mundane problems until my student loans are paid off and my emergency and retirement accounts are back to where they should be, because there's reliable money in mundane problem solving. Of course, I may not be smart enough to help out on "big problems," or I may not have the right connections, or enough risk tolerance. I still hope to find out one of these days. :)
- tybris 15y ago
  OK, I guess I qualify for being useful. However, if I succeed I will put millions of drivers out of their jobs and put high pressure on the educational system to produce highly educated workers instead of drivers, and on the political system to create laws for the modern world. However, neither of those institutions can keep up with the current pace of innovation. Fortunately, Facebook's popularity has fueled a surge in applications for computer science education and ignited political revolutions world-wide from Barack Obama to the Egyptian revolution. If it wasn't for their useless work, innovation might come to a halt.
mhansen 15y ago
Any job that someone's willing to pay to have done - by paying for the job, they indicate that it's worth that much money, and hence at least as useful as that money was.
- vegai 15y ago
  Lawyers, drug dealers, assassins, politicians, bankers, managers, accountants, stock traders, to mention a few: all paid significant amounts but not really that worthy, are they?
  - mhansen 15y ago
    They wouldn't be paid if they weren't worth the money they were getting; the customers would rather keep their money. Lawyers: Do I really need to explain that they perform an important, valuable role? Drug dealers: Can't say much here. Drugs are tricky, economists call them inelastic, and they can make people irrational. Bankers: I sure like being able to invest my money and use it everywhere via EFTPOS Accountants: It's a hell of a drag doing taxes. It's very valuable to have someone do this work for you (if it wasn't, everyone would do their own accounting). Bottom line: determining value is a tricky economic/algorithmic question. Luckily, we have a price system, where people can set prices. If the customers pay that price, that's a strong indicator that the service is worth that much. It's not perfect (see bubbles), but it works pretty well on average.
  - tybris 15y ago
    Why not? Could you give more concrete examples?
- wolfgangK 15y ago
  That something is valuable to someone does not mean that it is useful for society as a whole cf. zero sum games or worse: Think about the guy whose job was to hide defects in nuclear power plant : certainly valuable for tepco, but for society as a whole? http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-23/fukushima-engineer-says-he-covered-up-flaw-at-shut-reactor.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-23/fukushima-engineer-...

What are "useful" jobs?

by tybris 15y ago

What are "useful" jobs?

figuring out how to generate power cleanly and cheaply on every home in the world. A whole continent like Africa would surely have a great use for cheap+clean energy generation. making self driving vehicles. creating better battery technology. figuring out a way to get rid of lawyers. working on super intelligence. brain computer interface (the one input mechanism that would do away without keyboards) augmented reality projection straight to your visual cortex, no more computer monitors would only be the beginning of something like that. robotics robotics robotics space exploration deep sea exploration longevity research ...

amcintyre 15y ago
The problem seems to be that there's not much demand for people to solve those problems (not that I agree that all of those are worthy goals, particularly the "get rid of lawyers" bit). Solving some of the things you mention could produce immense benefits for everybody, but it seems like the common wisdom is that it's too risky to pay people salaries equivalent to "finance/entertainment/social media smart people salaries" to work on them, at least not in the same quantity as those industries hire. Finance, entertainment, and social media companies are out there digging through resume sites and college campuses, actively looking for smart people to solve problems, because they are really sure they can make enough money to compensate them well for their efforts, and have a lot left over. I'd love to work on energy generation, space exploration, brain computer interfaces, or longevity, but I expect I'll be working on more mundane problems until my student loans are paid off and my emergency and retirement accounts are back to where they should be, because there's reliable money in mundane problem solving. Of course, I may not be smart enough to help out on "big problems," or I may not have the right connections, or enough risk tolerance. I still hope to find out one of these days. :)
tybris 15y ago
OK, I guess I qualify for being useful. However, if I succeed I will put millions of drivers out of their jobs and put high pressure on the educational system to produce highly educated workers instead of drivers, and on the political system to create laws for the modern world. However, neither of those institutions can keep up with the current pace of innovation. Fortunately, Facebook's popularity has fueled a surge in applications for computer science education and ignited political revolutions world-wide from Barack Obama to the Egyptian revolution. If it wasn't for their useless work, innovation might come to a halt.

mhansen 15y ago

Any job that someone's willing to pay to have done - by paying for the job, they indicate that it's worth that much money, and hence at least as useful as that money was.

vegai 15y ago
Lawyers, drug dealers, assassins, politicians, bankers, managers, accountants, stock traders, to mention a few: all paid significant amounts but not really that worthy, are they?
- mhansen 15y ago
  They wouldn't be paid if they weren't worth the money they were getting; the customers would rather keep their money. Lawyers: Do I really need to explain that they perform an important, valuable role? Drug dealers: Can't say much here. Drugs are tricky, economists call them inelastic, and they can make people irrational. Bankers: I sure like being able to invest my money and use it everywhere via EFTPOS Accountants: It's a hell of a drag doing taxes. It's very valuable to have someone do this work for you (if it wasn't, everyone would do their own accounting). Bottom line: determining value is a tricky economic/algorithmic question. Luckily, we have a price system, where people can set prices. If the customers pay that price, that's a strong indicator that the service is worth that much. It's not perfect (see bubbles), but it works pretty well on average.
- tybris 15y ago
  Why not? Could you give more concrete examples?
wolfgangK 15y ago
That something is valuable to someone does not mean that it is useful for society as a whole cf. zero sum games or worse: Think about the guy whose job was to hide defects in nuclear power plant : certainly valuable for tepco, but for society as a whole? http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-23/fukushima-engineer-says-he-covered-up-flaw-at-shut-reactor.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-23/fukushima-engineer-...