The two who've called me were at the telemarketer level of cluelessness. I wondered if they really were paid by Google or just working on spec.
The other side of this is tying up America's top brainpower on banal stuff. As Jeff Hammerbacher of Facebook said, "The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click ads. That sucks." It's either that or quantitative finance to make big money. ("Apps" are a zillion people chasing a market with about 20 big winners.) Two good robotics people I know went to hedge funds.
