I recall someone saying many, many years ago saying the best and brightest of the generation aren't going to work on curing cancer or sending humans to Mars. In

I recall someone saying many, many years ago saying the best and brightest of the generation aren't going to work on curing cancer or sending humans to Mars. Instead, they go work for Wall Street to make billionaires even bigger billionaires. More recently, I recall someone saying (possibly right here on HN) that the best and brightest aren't going to work on curing cancer or sending humans to Mars. Instead they go to work for Silicon Valley companies to optimize the process of posting cat pictures online.