Comment by echelon
18 hours ago
> You don't study mathematics or computer science and information theory to produce commodities. You study them to transform your mind.
That's nonsense. Of course you study them to meet demand.
18 hours ago
> You don't study mathematics or computer science and information theory to produce commodities. You study them to transform your mind.
That's nonsense. Of course you study them to meet demand.
> you study them to meet demand
nobody who has ever achieved notoriety in any intellectual field ever did it to "meet demand." if your goal is to be an interchangeable widget that produces value as part of a corporate machine that exists for the enrichment of your shareholders, you are certainly free to choose that path, but don't imagine that is the limit of human existence. also, don't be surprise when you are replaced by AI, because it is a superior widget.
The desire for novelty and to be first is demand. The publishing and grant writing. The whole funding and tenure apparatus. It's nothing but demand gradients.
People who study STEM for the enrichment of their intellect are privileged. Most of us had to study STEM (or whatever else) because we had bills to pay.
I feel like so many people here are part of that crowd. going on about how it's like humanities and how it's super valuable and those who are seeking to get paid are just missing the point
how is it even possible to think like that? or maybe it's some kind of coping mechanism
Lots of people don't need to work, or are relatively insulated such that they have the "leisure capacity" to study for personal fulfillment.
Remember, the top 1% of households have $12M+ in assets. That's over a million households for whom work is somewhat or completely optional for them and their children. They can live a good quality life off capital returns without any hardship.
This logic still holds down the wealth gradient. Households at the 95th percentile still have to work, but the need is more flexible. The buffer of need could be years long.
So you have millions of people who genuinely don't need to worry about getting paid that much.
That's not why I studied. Maybe abstractly to prepare myself for the workforce, but the primary goal was to learn.
Unfortunately many countries like the US are very under-developed, and have trained it's citizenry to approach education as job training. This is obviously an abject failure, and probably a contribution to our anemically slow and pathetic growth rate.
sad