(I&#x27;m the author of the original blog post.) Ad hominem attacks aside, I do think it&#x27;s a big deal if a bunch of academics are spending time working on the wrong things, if for no better reason than maximizing efficiency: Don&#x27;t forget that most academic research is funded by the government. Since I also happen to help decide which research proposals Google funds, I also care that academics are well-aligned with the problems we care about. Clearly we also need to invest in long term bets. But there is a big difference between doing long-term, potentially-groundbreaking research and bad industry-focused research.