Making Money in Digital Money

[Steve Schear]

At 12:38 PM 4/30/2003 -0400, R. A. Hettinga wrote:
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>At 9:33 AM -0400 4/30/03, John Kelsey wrote:
> >Geez, Bob, sometimes you do it because it's *fun*.
>
>Agreed.
>
>However, try have fun all your life and not getting paid for it.
>Artists are a good example, but you can't do that all your life
>without money either. There aren't a whole lot of landed aristocracy
>in the world, for instance, or even those who live on trust funds. Or
>who are even retired. :-).

I believe it was Albert Einstein that suggested budding physicists not 
strive for professional careers but engage in full-time work in some other 
area (perhaps in a trade).  Treat science as an avocation, something that 
can be successfully pursued in one's spare time.  (He did some of his most 
important work while engaged as a patent examiner).

Today, there are still quite a few people engaged in amateur 
astronomy.  They toil night after night taking measurements and making 
observations. Many might think its all for naught, what could they possibly 
contribute to serious science now that there is Hubble and are so many 
large instruments managed by professional astronomers and staffs.  And they 
would be wrong.

In the past decade appropriate electronic image sensors have dramatically 
improved in performance and dropped in price.  Smaller amateur instruments, 
some not all that small, now have many of the capabilities that formerly 
were the province of the large professional variety prior to such 
sensors.  Also, the sky is vast and most of the professional instruments 
have very small fields of view.  Someone has to tell where to look.  Often 
its the professional astronomers pursuing some esoteric work, but 
increasingly its the thousands of astronomers and their keen eyes which 
first spot important amateurs.  The result, amateurs (who were not long ago 
looked upon by professionals as charming relics) are now receiving 
increased respect and increasingly partnering with professionals on 
important work (and being named as co-authors of published papers).

Of course these amateurs aren't paid, so why or how do they do it?  Many 
are retired and rather than touring in country their mobile homes or 
watching the grandchildren have embarked on a sort of second or third 
career.  Others take advantage of computers and the electronic sensors to 
run sky patrol cameras so the telescope does most all the work and they 
still have their full-time careers.

I see no reason why important security, crypto or financial crypto 
developments must be linked with direct or immediate financial compensation.

steve