[Blahah]

I doubt that. Firstly because most people don't hate anything in academia, and secondly because you know very little about me.

Perhaps my short comment sounded more arrogant than I am... I'm motivated by wanting to help people. If given the choice between trying to help alleviate starvation for little money and trying to optimise advertising on some website for a shitload of money, I'll take the former.

Interesting that you think moral judgements are an indicator of self importance.

[GoFrackOnCobalt]

But couldn't optimizing advertising on some website for a shitload of money lead one to develop a novel algorithm or modeling framework that had applicability to diverse fields including alleviating starvation?

Is culture important? Is The Big Lebowski frivolous? Is Old Navy Performance Fleece is a waste of time? Should the cast of SNL all quit and start learning R? Do those folks not pay taxes and thus support most academic research?

I just have to challenge the assumption that it is obvious which things are important, moral, and noble and which things are frivolous. Perhaps in hindsight those things are clear. History will be the judge, as a wise man once said. Or maybe he wasn't wise. Or maybe he made some unwise decisions and learned from them. Or maybe it doesn't matter, and I'll give him the benefit of the doubt because the secret to happiness is thinking happy thoughts.

[burntsushi]

> Interesting that you think moral judgements are an indicator of self importance.

Definitely not. But the way one expresses them certainly is.