[JoeAltmaier]

I hesitate to disagree. But ... the value of services can be easily calculated because they are so visible. Every interaction has an emotional link, and we count that highly.

The value to 'society' of improving a toaster by a small percentage, or the hits to a website by a larger one, are hard to calculate except by a bottom line. Any emotional impact is so indirect as to be invisible. Still exist; but we don't see them so can't count them.

Add to this: one-on-one services are limited by the time and attention one person can put into them - two hands, one heart, 24 hours in a day. Absolutely no leverage at all, in the economic sense. Exceeding that (admittedly large and important) impact happens at some point in less-direct exchanges (economic, technological) and can go up from there geometrically.

So I console myself, as a technician, that what I do affects those unseen people. And if successful, it affects millions, not just tens. It adds up to something important too.