Ask HN: How strong a signal of idea value is “smart people want to work on it”?
In a recent interview about his belief in blockchain technology, Kevin O'Leary (Shark Tank) said:
"Look at an MIT graduating class of engineers," O'Leary said. "The smartest people want to work on the [block]chain. So you've got the majority of the best intellectual capital in the world solving poor outcomes on the chain — why wouldn't you expect that to work?"
Is his heuristic good? Are there examples of many highly intelligent people being drawn to work on technologies or ideas that ultimately prove useless?
"Look at an MIT graduating class of engineers," O'Leary said. "The smartest people want to work on the [block]chain. So you've got the majority of the best intellectual capital in the world solving poor outcomes on the chain — why wouldn't you expect that to work?"
Is his heuristic good? Are there examples of many highly intelligent people being drawn to work on technologies or ideas that ultimately prove useless?