Conversation

This question's gauche, but: given the prevalence of $400k++ comp packages for ~30-year-olds in Big Tech, why aren't there lots more "gentle[wo]man scholars"? i.e. people quitting to do non-remunerative creative projects I can think of some, but shouldn't there be thousands?

207

110

1,059

Scott McMaster

@scott_mcmaster

Jan 28

Health insurance access

Andy Matuschak

@andy_matuschak

Replying to

@scott_mcmaster

Ah, that's a good point—wasn't including health insurance in my napkin math.

3:07 AM · Jan 28, 2022Twitter Web App

Replying to

and

Covered CA is good. The health insurance thing mattered more before obamacare

Avi Bryant

@avibryant

Jan 28

I’m gloating in Canadian (politely).

Replying to

and

If you’re living off savings long enough that you’re technically low income, there are tax credits you can claim that help a lot.

Replying to

and

In the AI field its also access to compute and datasets that force folk to big tech. I'm trying to change that by providing supercompute & data to independent researchers, but turns out health insurance was even more important than that so set up US co to basically provide that.