They provide asset management and investment opportunity.
Not all hedge funds are malicious.
We can also see issues in tech that are similar. Look at all the hate Meta gets for their business model - using addicting algorithms to gather and sell users' info. There can certainly be an argument made here about the potential societal damage they cause being a parasite.
"On the whole though, they have released many orders of magnitude more useful things than Hedge Funds."
Well no shit - you're comparing an entity that creates "things" to one that doesn't!
"gobble up PhD holders and the cream of the crop and use them to make 0.1% of the population 5% wealthier"
Um, Google does this with data scientists. Maybe they do create a useful app, but make no mistake that their primary goal is to make the stock owners (mostly the top 1%) richer off the backs of their unsuspecting users.
An entity that puts nothing into the host system, but consumes resources from the host to fatten itself is a parasite.
In the case of hedge funds, it’s a zero-sum game. Either you or the counter party lose depending on how the bet goes. In aggregate, society gets nothing, but the cost of the net zero value is high (highly skilled people, taking resources away from other things). It’s profitable but net useless.
In the case of Google Maps, no one has to lose for me to make a journey. It’s profitable and useful.
Saying, ohh but they both operate in a capitalistic system to make money for shareholders is not relevant.
"An entity that puts nothing into the host system, but consumes resources from the host to fatten itself is a parasite."
You seem to miss how the system works. Those companies are where they are today because of financing. Stock purchases, including demand for existing shares drives that.
"In the case of Google Maps, no one has to lose for me to make a journey."
No, you trade your data (lose privacy) for that journey.
Not all hedge funds are malicious.
We can also see issues in tech that are similar. Look at all the hate Meta gets for their business model - using addicting algorithms to gather and sell users' info. There can certainly be an argument made here about the potential societal damage they cause being a parasite.