It's kind of amazing that the really mainstream jobs create and pitch throwaway code, while a few key niche jobs, with little demand, can really create enduring products.

Kind of like designing a better social media interface probably pays 100x what a toilet designer would be paid, but a better toilet would benefit the world 1000x.

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esafak 4 hours ago | parent [-]

The difference between economic value and social value.

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joe_mamba 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Which is why I dislike the GDP being thrown around in discussions as the ultimate dick measuring metric. High economic value activities don't translate or don't trickle down into high social value environments.

For example, I went to visit SF as young lad and I was expecting to be blown away given the immense wealth that area generates, but was severely disappointed with what I saw on the street. I used to think my home area of Eastern Europe is kind of a shithole, but SF beats that hands down. Like there's dozens of places on this planet that are way nicer to live in than SF despite being way poorer by comparison.

	▲	m463 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> kind of a shithole literally supporting the toilet designer argument. tangentially, japanese toilets are quite amazing.