Re:On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs
by vasilipupkin on Monday August 19, 2013 @02:13PM
(#6238693)
the arms races are essentially competition - and competition often creates positive externalities which are not immediately obvious to a naked eye, such as new technologies, etc. Perfect example is Jane Street Capital pouring resources into O'Caml libraries because they feel it gives them an edge in the high frequency trading arms race
For example lawyers are there for good reason. Modern society needs a way to officially settle conflicts. But our law system creates arms races and draws more and more resources this way.
I think few jobs are as zero sum as SEO from their beginning. The problem is that when we start arms races and pour more and more resources into them, they become almost zero sum.
So the interesting question would be how to avoid arms races. But that is not even mentioned.