cross-posted from: https://piefed.social/c/historymemes/p/1836852/copper
this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2026
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I had a roommate who was getting his doctorate in chemical engineering, specifically focused on graphene. He was able to demonstrate how doping the materials in a heat sink to alter their ability to "release" heat, and then organizing these intentional hotspots along the length of the fins, you could create an active airflow using a stationary object.
But then his lab manager killed his grant and instead put him on a project partnered with BMW to make their bumpers more marketable.
Really makes you wonder how many revolutionary ideas have fallen through the cracks because of moron management
Many folks in higher education in the UK have been bemoaning a generation of genii lost to business and the City who put their talents and creativity to the good of making profit rather than inventing and humanity.
Many more have their funding and direction tilted to capital, too.
If you're a Mathematical prodigy you either become a Quant making mathematical models for Price and Risk of Over The Counter (so, not sold in a Market) derivatives or, if you have good salesmanship skills, a Trader of such financial instruments.
None of this brings any actual improvement to Mankind but it sure pays well (more the latter than the former) since the way our Economic System is structured and as a side-effect of unbalancing the playing field to make sure the wealthy get ever more wealthy, Money is the thing that makes the most Money, and even just a tiny slice of such flows is far more monetarilly rewarding than almost all other forms of creation or discovery.
Black pilled by monetary interests.
Who knows how many great ideas we have lost because of bad management and capitalism...sigh
That's a shame that sounded really cool.