> The best minds of our generation are being used to...

This idea is repeated often in threads like this and I'm not at all sure where it comes from.

Do the best minds of our generation all go into tech? No. Do the best minds that go into tech all go into software engineering? No. Do the best minds that go into software engineering go to work at Google and Facebook and other advertisers? No. Do the best minds that go to work at Google and Facebook and other advertisers work on advertisements and tracking? No.

If it were possible to come up with a rigorous definition of "best minds", I see no particular reason to believe that such a definition would have substantial overlap with "pursues FAANG salaries", much less "works on ad tech".

> This idea is repeated often in threads like this and I'm not at all sure where it comes from.

I think you have a reasonable idea and you’re playing the devils advocate.

I'm definitely not playing devil's advocate, I genuinely and fervently disagree with the notion that the brightest minds of our generation work on (or even adjacent to) ad tech.

The only explanation I've been able to come up with for the idea is that some people assume that the "best minds" of our generation will tend to optimize for salary above all else and therefore would (since they're smart enough to find the high salaries) end up working in a FAANG company as a software engineer. That doesn't seem like a very convincing argument (hence, I'm not sure it's actually the origin), but I haven't yet seen a better explanation.

I’d respond but my commenting is throttled and I’m showing up as [dead] especially with lengthy comments. @dang?

@dang is a no-op, try the email in the footer.

It's an aphorism not a longitudinal study

"The best minds of my generation" originally referred to heroin-addicted artists. I wouldn't take it too seriously or literally.