Automotive mechanics is a learning process, fixing cars is a side effect.
Practicing medicine is a learning process, healing people is a side effect.
See how ridiculous this sounds?
Practicing medicine is a learning process, healing people is a side effect.
See how ridiculous this sounds?
Well, no. but replace automotive engineering - a more direct analogy to software developer - and yes.
> Practicing medicine is a learning process, healing people is a side effect.
As someone married to a physician, you'd actually be surprised how accurate that statement is. There are many thinks we have medical confidence, but there are also many things that we have limited knowledge about - especially new areas of medicine.
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I don't think your argument sounds that ridiculous. We know a lot about computers. What we often don't know a lot about is the business requirements - which are fundamentally human driven. In my experience, technical knowledge is rarely the limitation for good software. It's an inability to discover the human needs of someone else.
You can't fix something you don't understand, and unique things require a lot of time to figure out.
This applies in many areas. I learned a ton about Atomic Clocks the first time I fixed one... the second time I did it, it was only an afternoon, instead of a week spent in my friend's shop over the course of a month.
So, yes... the main investment is the knowledge learned. It is foolish to waste that effort.
In theory, we could have run one upstairs, and one downstairs to see if we could check relativity... but the tubes have an finite lifespan, so it wasn't worth it.
The Cesium clocks have since been sold... and the memories remain.
> See how ridiculous this sounds?
That sounds perfectly fine to me. I very much profit from the fact that humanity has been healing people for centuries, because it means that treatments, hospitals, and a whole education system to educate doctors and nurses exist.
The fact that some John Doe survived his surgery in 1923 and made a recovery doesn't help me much at all.
Sounds ridiculous, actually. /j
"Life is a learning process, happiness is a side effect."
You can't fix a Ferrari without learning about a car's history and the previous owner's maintenance to trouble shoot.
You can't fix a patient without learning about their history and learning about interactions with the treatment you prescribe.