To understand the value itself, we first need to understand the basic principles of how this world operates, which can be mainly divided into these four categories.

• Human energy sources: agriculture, animal husbandry
• Energy sources that support society: electricity generation, coal mining, natural gas, oil, transportation
• Enabling industrial progress: engineering, basic science
• Providing services: lawyers, financial advisors, advertising, marketing, etc.

Energy and raw materials are crucial for maintaining the socioeconomic functioning of society. Humans need food to survive. Resources like coal and natural gas sustain modern civilization. Agriculture, animal husbandry, and the food industry are essential for sustaining human life and serve as the foundation for the entire economic system. However, these two categories belong to linear value creation, where the value you receive is directly proportional to the time and effort you put in, relying solely on human labor.

What truly brings exponential development to society or civilization is engineering, which can be broadly extended to these four domains: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

These four domains study the essence of how things work. Through science, we understand the functioning of the world. Mathematics serves as a powerful tool for calculations. Engineering helps us find more efficient ways of doing things, and technology applies these principles to reality. It's important to note that technology is not limited to computer science, and engineering goes beyond software engineering alone.

The invention of the steam engine significantly reduced human labor costs. The power source, in the form of steam, transformed energy into work and facilitated the industrial revolution, changing the way humans live. This is exponential growth, fundamentally altering the way tasks are approached and liberating humanity from toiling.

Continuing with examples, the discovery of electricity and the invention of generators enabled humans to accomplish various tasks using electrical power. Inventions like refrigerators, microwaves, vacuum cleaners, and air conditioners have improved the quality of human life. All these advancements originated from the experiments and ideas of engineers, individuals or groups. Nowadays, computers and smartphones have become essential commodities in people's daily lives, and the computational power brought by computers has completely transformed human lifestyles. These are the best examples of how technology can bring exponential growth.

It is evident that if the world only consisted of financial advisors, directors, marketers, and advertisers, society would eventually collapse because they cannot provide the necessities for human survival. Their value creation is based on manipulating capital.

The game set by the capitalist society dictates that once you have money, it is best to invest in stocks, speculate on cryptocurrencies, or perhaps buy NFTs to be trendy.

However, let's not forget that human survival relies on energy sources, followed by ensuring a comfortable life. If what we do cannot directly or indirectly contribute to these aspects, we are merely playing the game of capital.

Money itself does not hold significant meaning; it is the existence of value that matters. Money is merely a convenient tool for exchanging value. If capital does not ultimately return to society, it becomes a zero-sum game.

I believe that society needs more individuals involved in STEM fields to make the world a better place, to create exponential development, rather than aiming for careers as managers, consultants, directors, marketers, or passive income earners who are unable to provide value.

The current society promotes investment, cryptocurrency speculation, and leadership, which concerns me. We already have a shortage of engineers, and I truly hope these individuals do not waste their time and lives in such endeavors.

In the future, more labor-intensive jobs will be replaced. Take the development of Copilot, for example; even low-level code can now be completed with the assistance of AI.

Conclusion

• Linear value: The foundation for sustaining the economic system.
• Manipulating capital or social systems as value creation: Most managers and marketers fall into this category.
• Exponential value: Systematically solving problems through STEM, which includes saving significant time and labor costs and improving the quality of life. Examples include engineers, scientists, and inventors.

If you want to contribute to the progress of society, seek professions or fields that have exponential value creation. Manipulating capital is not something we should consider at this stage. Jobs with linear value are the foundation for maintaining socioeconomic functioning, but they are highly likely to be replaced by AI in the future.

As more people engage in fields with exponential value creation, more ideas will emerge. The birth of various technologies such as electric vehicles, reusable rockets, virtual reality, blockchain, and the Internet of Things (IoT) continues to change people's lifestyles and bring about positive cycles. The number of hours humans need to work decreases, and there may even come a day when we no longer need to work at all.

Some industries may not fit into these discussions, but perhaps you can consider which category they belong to: labor-intensive linear value, capital manipulation, or meaningful exponential value.

I agree with Mr. Market's statement:

The highest return on investment is investing in yourself. Most wealthy people in the world became wealthy before they started investing.

There are too many people in management positions who contribute nothing and rely on manipulating capital to accumulate wealth. However, value cannot be created out of thin air, so the gap is filled by exploiting those who create linear and exponential value. These individuals are the root cause of societal stagnation.

Unfortunately, there are too many people in this world who only want to make money by manipulating capital and do not contribute any value to the world. If the entire world advocates embracing this kind of value, the end of the world is truly not far away.

Note

Many people mention technology and engineering, automatically associating them with computers, programming, and computer science. However, this article is not limited to these fields alone.