I agree that there is some value to purely theoretical work, but I think this is over-valued in CS. For instance, in the first year of physics instruction at u

I agree that there is some value to purely theoretical work, but I think this is over-valued in CS. For instance, in the first year of physics instruction at university, problems are often stated in the form of: "In a frictionless environment..." I think a lot of problems are created in the application of computer science because we treat reality as if there are no physical constraints - because often it is the case that our computers are powerful enough that we can safely ignore constraints - but in aggregate this approach leads to a lot of waste that we feel in every day life. I think incremental cost should play a larger role in CS education, and if every practitioner thought about it more we would live in a better world.