[dalbasal]

> Are we, as a society, investing in the right things?

This kind of question can be tricky. It biases the answer. The answer is usually "No, but it's hard to agree about what the right things are."

But in a lot of cases, how is as important as how much.. and related. Are we doing this the right way? Are the right people making the right decisions?

A hospital or an industry is also a culture, and they often do things for cultural reasons.

The "fast-growing software companies" have a culture of nice offices. The economic rationale is that it's cheap, helps recruit, and possibly adds to moral or productivity or somesuch.

Hospitals have a utilitarian culture, austere at times. Older culture, more complicated reasons. A lot of the difference (since we're talking about appearances) is down to what they want to project and to whom.