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This is in line with what Peter Thiel is saying: IT has been taking a lot of attention and talent from the "hard" sciences and it is certainly arguable that maj

This is in line with what Peter Thiel is saying: IT has been taking a lot of attention and talent from the "hard" sciences and it is certainly arguable that major scientific breakthroughs have been getting more rare. During the cold war it was cool to be an astronaut, now it is being the CEO of the next mobile social local photo sharing startup.

phatbyte 15y ago
Damn, you nailed it. This is exactly what I think, we are wasting so much brain power into stupid and superficial things it's a shame.
- hobin 15y ago
  It's only stupid and superficial if no one wants it.
  - kamjam 15y ago
    Stupid and superficial is very relative and means very different things to different people. Facebook, Amazon, iTunes, iPads etc etc... all very stupid and superficial when you don't know where your next meal is coming from. But the West will happily preach on to the less developed nations to use inefficient methods of power generation which are still very expensive tech when they themselves have not been able to solve the problems associated with cheaply mass producing power using that same technology. It's going to be interesting to see how all these technology develops, no doubt at least some of it will filter done to mass produced consumer goods. Hopefully some of the profits will go towards helping the poorer nations develop their tech.
  - eligottlieb 15y ago
    "Stupid and superficial" is a good description of today's low-need, low-investment, small-problem start-up environment.
skrebbel 15y ago
During the cold war it was cool to be an astronaut, now it is being the CEO of the next mobile social local photo sharing startup , in Silicon Valley. Believe me, it's a very local cultural thing. If you live there and read HN, which is basically projecting said culture into the world and attracting the few outliers elsewhere who feel the same, it's easy to think that the whole world is like this. It isn't. Or, at least, where I live, nobody thinks it's cool to be the CEO of the next mobile social local photo sharing startup.
- rbanffy 15y ago
  > where I live, nobody thinks it's cool to be the CEO of the next mobile social local photo sharing startup. And I still would love to be an astronaut. Just in case someone is hiring around here ;-) I'd change careers in a blink.
- nchuhoai 15y ago
  I wouldn't neccessarily say that. Starting your own startup has definitely gained "street-cred" over the years. Then again, I go to college in Boston
larsberg 15y ago
I disagree. It's a lack of research job opportunities that pushes people from hard sciences and into, especially finance IT. At the risk of sounding like NDT, funding for research labs (and yes, NASA) would suck up the hard sciences people like nothing. And until you have the basic research figured out, it's pretty hard to just "entrepreneur" your way through these problems. There are plenty of people who pursue degrees in the hard sciences --- PhDs in physics, chemistry, etc. Then, somewhere around their third year, they all realize that: 1) To get a faculty job, you have to be beyond brilliant. I'm not. Research labs? Also barely scraping by. Be prepared to, at best, be on soft money and have to apply for grants every 2-3 years, most of which run between a 10-20% acceptance rate. 2) There are some industry labs. They pay decently, but it's basically carrying out others experiments in line with short-term goals. Where can XX find / extract more oil? Is it any surprise they wake up and shift, particularly to finance IT, where they can at least get paid well? Spend a month learning stochastic calculus and you're good to go. Yes, I oversimplify, but not by too much (at least, for the hard sciences people I've talked with here at the UofC and in the post-graduation Chicago finance shops).
- alexchamberlain 15y ago
  I'm in my 4th year at Warwick doing a Maths degree. I could have done a PhD for £14000 a year, or get a job in Financial Software Development at £40000. Furthermore, I'm more employable after the 4 years of work than the PhD. I didn't even have to learn any Stochastic Analysis!
- speg 15y ago
  Agreed. I was a physics major for three years, but here I am doing webdev as a fulltime gig.
- nchuhoai 15y ago
  but dont you think when kids are in high school or college, they think about what they wanna be? I doubt people look into NASA funding to decide whether to go into the hard sciences or just stick with computers
  - 15y ago

phatbyte 15y ago

Damn, you nailed it. This is exactly what I think, we are wasting so much brain power into stupid and superficial things it's a shame.

hobin 15y ago
It's only stupid and superficial if no one wants it.
- kamjam 15y ago
  Stupid and superficial is very relative and means very different things to different people. Facebook, Amazon, iTunes, iPads etc etc... all very stupid and superficial when you don't know where your next meal is coming from. But the West will happily preach on to the less developed nations to use inefficient methods of power generation which are still very expensive tech when they themselves have not been able to solve the problems associated with cheaply mass producing power using that same technology. It's going to be interesting to see how all these technology develops, no doubt at least some of it will filter done to mass produced consumer goods. Hopefully some of the profits will go towards helping the poorer nations develop their tech.
- eligottlieb 15y ago
  "Stupid and superficial" is a good description of today's low-need, low-investment, small-problem start-up environment.

skrebbel 15y ago

During the cold war it was cool to be an astronaut, now it is being the CEO of the next mobile social local photo sharing startup , in Silicon Valley. Believe me, it's a very local cultural thing. If you live there and read HN, which is basically projecting said culture into the world and attracting the few outliers elsewhere who feel the same, it's easy to think that the whole world is like this. It isn't. Or, at least, where I live, nobody thinks it's cool to be the CEO of the next mobile social local photo sharing startup.

rbanffy 15y ago
> where I live, nobody thinks it's cool to be the CEO of the next mobile social local photo sharing startup. And I still would love to be an astronaut. Just in case someone is hiring around here ;-) I'd change careers in a blink.
nchuhoai 15y ago
I wouldn't neccessarily say that. Starting your own startup has definitely gained "street-cred" over the years. Then again, I go to college in Boston

larsberg 15y ago

I disagree. It's a lack of research job opportunities that pushes people from hard sciences and into, especially finance IT. At the risk of sounding like NDT, funding for research labs (and yes, NASA) would suck up the hard sciences people like nothing. And until you have the basic research figured out, it's pretty hard to just "entrepreneur" your way through these problems. There are plenty of people who pursue degrees in the hard sciences --- PhDs in physics, chemistry, etc. Then, somewhere around their third year, they all realize that: 1) To get a faculty job, you have to be beyond brilliant. I'm not. Research labs? Also barely scraping by. Be prepared to, at best, be on soft money and have to apply for grants every 2-3 years, most of which run between a 10-20% acceptance rate. 2) There are some industry labs. They pay decently, but it's basically carrying out others experiments in line with short-term goals. Where can XX find / extract more oil? Is it any surprise they wake up and shift, particularly to finance IT, where they can at least get paid well? Spend a month learning stochastic calculus and you're good to go. Yes, I oversimplify, but not by too much (at least, for the hard sciences people I've talked with here at the UofC and in the post-graduation Chicago finance shops).

alexchamberlain 15y ago
I'm in my 4th year at Warwick doing a Maths degree. I could have done a PhD for £14000 a year, or get a job in Financial Software Development at £40000. Furthermore, I'm more employable after the 4 years of work than the PhD. I didn't even have to learn any Stochastic Analysis!
speg 15y ago
Agreed. I was a physics major for three years, but here I am doing webdev as a fulltime gig.
nchuhoai 15y ago
but dont you think when kids are in high school or college, they think about what they wanna be? I doubt people look into NASA funding to decide whether to go into the hard sciences or just stick with computers
- 15y ago