I came to the conclusion that most likely, taking the job was morally neutral- barely hurting nor helping anyone outside the firm (not specifically RT- don't want to out myself); but that on a larger scale our country is rotting because our most capable thinkers are doing this instead of anything morally positive (solving healthcare, solving the climate crisis, leading the country), and I didn't want to participate in that brain drain.
Looking at my own motivations, one of the big draws of the position was that everyone I talked to at the firm was competent and pleasant, while in domains solving real problems (again for example healthcare and climate) 70% of people I've interacted with are stupid, petty, or both. But stepping back, isn't that state of affairs existentially horrifying? If that status quo persists, will we even survive as a species?
Fair. It's really a shame that society incentivizes its smartest to go into finance rather than a positive-sum endeavor. If it's any reassurance, the world has pretty much always been this way.
And I'm pretty surprised everyone you met was pleasant -- that was certainly not my experience at a hedge fund.
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What moral implications? Quants at RenTech are basically just card counters in the biggest casino in the world.
I came to the conclusion that most likely, taking the job was morally neutral- barely hurting nor helping anyone outside the firm (not specifically RT- don't want to out myself); but that on a larger scale our country is rotting because our most capable thinkers are doing this instead of anything morally positive (solving healthcare, solving the climate crisis, leading the country), and I didn't want to participate in that brain drain.
Looking at my own motivations, one of the big draws of the position was that everyone I talked to at the firm was competent and pleasant, while in domains solving real problems (again for example healthcare and climate) 70% of people I've interacted with are stupid, petty, or both. But stepping back, isn't that state of affairs existentially horrifying? If that status quo persists, will we even survive as a species?
Fair. It's really a shame that society incentivizes its smartest to go into finance rather than a positive-sum endeavor. If it's any reassurance, the world has pretty much always been this way.
And I'm pretty surprised everyone you met was pleasant -- that was certainly not my experience at a hedge fund.