[Zephyr314]

> "The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads."

There is a strong argument that as long as they continue to publish and produce open source (which they have been doing) then you could think of ads as just a source of funding and tons of data to continue to push the state of the art. It can also be a stepping stone to other ventures [1].

[1]: http://www.wsj.com/articles/where-would-we-be-without-intern...

[rqebmm]

Since the last few generations used weapons research to fund scientific advancements, I guess this is progress after all!

[ben_jones]

Don't mind the huge military-industrial complex that has helped derail education, health care, retirement-funding, ...

[abakker]

Remember that the US military Active Duty + civilian jobs makes it probably the largest employer in the US. Not everything they do is great, but they pay salaries and benefits.

[drewstiff]

A government employer for the sake of employment... Marx would be high-fiving himself in his grave.

[cpeterso]

Side benefits from the advertising-industrial complex?