There's a considerable amount of embodied energy and embodied pollution in Solar Panel and Wind Turbine construction.
I think this is lost on most people in Silicon Valley.
I think this is lost on most people in Silicon Valley.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life-cycle_greenhouse-gas_emis...
And there are so many pollution externalities: increased risk of disasters like spills, and people who get respiratory diseases/cancers from breathing polluted air and die early.
If they want to see their 10xs breakthroughs (which they sure talk a lot about) they should be throwing money at condensed matter physics research and just support in general for physics. Its easy to get a 10x in software but energy is a whole different game.
That way the smartest people won't have to decide between taking a high paying engineering/programming job or going into physics.
It all comes down to probabilities and the amount of people in the field is really the best approach towards making a breakthrough.
Engineering is much different than software architecture.
One requires hard sciences competency, whereas one you can go into for years with none, and be successful.
Without the support and money from companies who care, many will choose the highest paying option