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Who decides what "something useful for society" is? Is it the case that Google engineers optimizing ads are not doing something useful, but game developers cre

Who decides what "something useful for society" is? Is it the case that Google engineers optimizing ads are not doing something useful, but game developers creating games that some people play for 8+ hours a day are doing something useful? Is online shopping development useful? Google search and Gmail engineers are doing something useful but the Ad engineers aren't?

happymellon 4y ago
There are other jobs out there that are not creating social engineered advertising or spammy malware games. Online shopping could be considered useful for humanity. I can see on LinkedIn right now there are jobs for a company that will identify and help you reduce your companies carbon footprint, there are a couple looking at Vision based Machine Learning for automated sorting of recycling. And then there is a university startup wanting software engineers to help them with their bio-scientists get going with some new cancer research. I would agree with the grand parent post that most ad development has not been beneficial to society.
- oarabbus_ 4y ago
  Respectfully, posts like yours and the parent make me very thankful we don't have Arbiters of Usefulness dictating to the rest of us what is and isn't worthwhile to spend our time doing. For the record, I am not, and have never been, an ad developer/product manager/anything of the sort. >I can see on LinkedIn right now there are jobs for a company that will identify and help you reduce your companies carbon footprint, there are a couple looking at Vision based Machine Learning for automated sorting of recycling. And then there is a university startup wanting software engineers to help them with their bio-scientists get going with some new cancer research. Online shopping could be considered useful, but ad development isn't useful? You do you realize what the online shopping business model is built upon, right? And what is the revenue stream for Linkedin Jobs? What allows them to provide this product, for free, to you? How does the B2B carbon footprint reduction company find its clients? What business model does HN leverage in order to provide a discussion forum about how ad development is useless? (The irony here is especially amusing) And surely you realize how the universities and CV researchers that you approve of are able to use Google to further their knowledge…
brianmcc 4y ago
There's a committee! Kidding. But with a little research one finds a fairly widespread consensus about professions such as doctors, nurses, utilities engineers (energy/water), teachers, waste disposal, that sort of thing. That literally keep us alive, healthy, and in comfort. https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=3316274&itype=CMSID https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=3316274&itype=CMSI... Would anyone really argue that "provide a means of shopping in comfort and convenience from one's own home" is really less useful than "makes tiny incremental optimizations to the display and profitability of banner ads in a mind-boggingly complex ecosystem" though? Another way of putting it - who would notice, friends and family aside, if all the ad engineers got Thanos-ed tomorrow?

happymellon 4y ago

There are other jobs out there that are not creating social engineered advertising or spammy malware games. Online shopping could be considered useful for humanity. I can see on LinkedIn right now there are jobs for a company that will identify and help you reduce your companies carbon footprint, there are a couple looking at Vision based Machine Learning for automated sorting of recycling. And then there is a university startup wanting software engineers to help them with their bio-scientists get going with some new cancer research. I would agree with the grand parent post that most ad development has not been beneficial to society.

oarabbus_ 4y ago
Respectfully, posts like yours and the parent make me very thankful we don't have Arbiters of Usefulness dictating to the rest of us what is and isn't worthwhile to spend our time doing. For the record, I am not, and have never been, an ad developer/product manager/anything of the sort. >I can see on LinkedIn right now there are jobs for a company that will identify and help you reduce your companies carbon footprint, there are a couple looking at Vision based Machine Learning for automated sorting of recycling. And then there is a university startup wanting software engineers to help them with their bio-scientists get going with some new cancer research. Online shopping could be considered useful, but ad development isn't useful? You do you realize what the online shopping business model is built upon, right? And what is the revenue stream for Linkedin Jobs? What allows them to provide this product, for free, to you? How does the B2B carbon footprint reduction company find its clients? What business model does HN leverage in order to provide a discussion forum about how ad development is useless? (The irony here is especially amusing) And surely you realize how the universities and CV researchers that you approve of are able to use Google to further their knowledge…

brianmcc 4y ago

There's a committee! Kidding. But with a little research one finds a fairly widespread consensus about professions such as doctors, nurses, utilities engineers (energy/water), teachers, waste disposal, that sort of thing. That literally keep us alive, healthy, and in comfort. https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=3316274&itype=CMSID https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=3316274&itype=CMSI... Would anyone really argue that "provide a means of shopping in comfort and convenience from one's own home" is really less useful than "makes tiny incremental optimizations to the display and profitability of banner ads in a mind-boggingly complex ecosystem" though? Another way of putting it - who would notice, friends and family aside, if all the ad engineers got Thanos-ed tomorrow?