[ramraj07]

That’s definitely not true. The smartest (clearly not the best if you take conscience into account) minds of today work either in ad farms or as money movers. You can sugarcoat it however you want but if you work in google or Facebook you definitely are just farming ads but with extra steps.

[p1esk]

Hinton and Lecun are two of the smartest people working at Google/FB, and they don't work in ad farms or as money movers.

[8fGTBjZxBcHq]

Not directly but their work needs to benefit an ad company to be allowed to continue.

Or else it exists in some intersection of corporate benevolence and the work not actively harming the ad company. Which is just not an arrangement I trust sorry.

Plus I mean that's two people. How many people work at google and fb and how many who do get to decide they're going to do something more important than ads?

[p1esk]

how many who do get to decide

We are talking about "best minds of our generation". That means dozens.

But even a regular good engineer/researcher can probably find a place where they can work on something they're interested in. I did.

[DrAwdeOccarim]

Maybe in tech, but not in bio.

[PatentlyDC123]

Or nearly any other field, e.g., mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, chemistry/chemical engineering, nearly any of the sciences involved in the medical field (from pharmacology to psychology to name a few). Even "softer" fields like law and literature have present day geniuses pioneering new ground.

I understand that HackerNews is tech centered, but some times when I read "the best minds of my generation are doing X" I wonder if the commenter can see the flashes of brilliance shining beyond their field or what they know as "tech."

[DrAwdeOccarim]

Totally agree. I'm surprised I was downvoted for my comment?