hmapple

Have you tried any SOTA models like o3?

If not, I strongly encourage you to discuss your area of expertise with it and rate based on that

It is incredibly competent

The replies to this make it pretty clear that no “single” hard skill or really even set of hard skills will remain defensible indefinitely

Adding my own anecdote as an employer, I mainly hire engineers based on their demonstrated ability to efficiently identify practical solutions to problems, and to self manage the translation of those solutions into maintainable, production systems (tldr, ship shit that works and that others can work on with you, all in a reasonable timeframe)

That being said, I can tell you it is extremely hard to find an experienced cryptographer, and I expect that need to grow over the next several years (though it’s very niche and your options will certainly be limited, if lucrative)

Whether or not it’s a worthwhile use of energy is certainly debatable, but it’s not exactly “pretend internet money” when you can trade it for billions worth of USD in a single day with minimal slippage

Do you think the American political regime is worse than Venezuela's? Vietnam? Thailand? Brazil? Libya? I think the majority of people would argue the list of superior systems is 90% shorter than the list of inferior.