Re:There's never been a better time to go into math (by: 3bl...
by stalfie on Monday October 19, 2026 @04:32PM
(#50157679)
Well, I agree with publishing metrics being detrimental! On your other points, you're arguing against a strawman. I didn't say anything about life just being a snatch and grab, nor do I hold this belief. But university admissions, job interviews, buying non-plentiful resources...all of these are competitions. Competition permeates the very foundation of our education and financial systems. Many of our greatest virtues as a species are not competition based, but it is a large part of the reality we live in, for better or worse.
And about what happens in a society where constituents have nothing to contribute... I have no idea. But we might find out within a decade or so. The fact that what happens might not all be great is unlikely to stop any of the AI labs.
Competitions are a way to motivate people. What do you believe, why they get set up in the first place? Because rich people have fun seeing you run in circles?
Competition for tenure and publishing metrics has been detrimental to science in general.
Your idea of life being about grabbing whatever comes your way and consuming it first says a lot about you, but not about life.
What do you suppose happens in a society where the constituents of that society "have nothing to contribute"? Your habit of over-simplification will come to bite you.