<p>Basically, I am curious to see what everyone thinks are the most important specializations or niches for a country to stay influential and well-off in the world (interpret this however you please - that is part of this intellectual exercize; it could mean politically, economically, militarily, w/e).</p>
<p>Format of Responses: State a profession, and say why you think it is important to a country’s vitality. Then provide a counter-argument to what someone else said (ie why you think the profession someone else stated is NOT the most important).</p>
<p>To start this debate off:</p>
<p>Financial Analyst - Wealth is power, and a country needs financial experts to effectively manage resources and devise policy. With sound investment and spending consulting, advising, and policy, a country can stay economically robust, afford a high-tech and professional military, and attract workers from other countries.</p>
<p>Engineering…financial analysts move a lot of money around and can provide the capital, but engineers create true value for an economy and drive the productivity gains that lead to increasing standards of living.</p>
<p>Having great advice obviously improves efficiency, etc. but a nation has to innovate to stay on top. The things that made America what it is: automobile, superior defense technology, modern infrastructure, computer, etc. all from innovators and ‘engineers.’ Have to continue to innovate to stay on top. It is our great manufacturing/tech companies that attract the best foreign workers. The next big economic battlefields will be electrification of the automobile, alternative energy, etc. The people/nations that figure out these problems will reap great benefits.</p>
<p>Robot soldiers: They can ravage entire countries in days and can consume a pound of human flesh in less time than it take for you to brush your teeth. Plus they are environmentally friendly.</p>
<p>Financiers provide the funding that makes technological growth and innovation possible. If you don’t have the money, your idea will remain only an idea</p>
<p>^False. Hundreds upon hundreds of very important technological feats have come out of inventors’ basements. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates both lacked funding, so your statement really isn’t true.</p>
<p>That said, I would say TODAY, medical researchers. Many people are calling this time the Age of Medical Technology. Just look at the city that is constantly on top of fastest growing city type lists: Raleigh, NC. The entire economy is based off medical research. Biomedical Engineering is a rather new field that is attracting some of today’s brightest students. </p>
<p>Of course alternative energy is another one.</p>
<p>You are right on a lot of bright kids going into biomedical engineering. My sister just graduated high school from a good magnet school, about 40 of her class of 60 were looking to major in biomedical engineering. Don’t really get why - it seems to be one of the lower-paying engineering fields.</p>
<p>^I actually talked to a biomedical engineer major recently about the reason for going into the field. He said that while it is indeed one of the lower paying fields it provides a great balance of the sciences and has so much appeal when looking 10 years down the road. He is researching under someone who is growing some type of connective tissue for knee reconstruction (or something like that). Everytime he talks about the work he is doing I am fascinated.</p>
<p>Honestly? Anything you’re passionate about. You could be a nurse, an art curator, teacher, a CEO (god knows we need some balanced ones), everyone does their part. I mean, we can’t have EVERYONE go into biomedical engineering. As long as you embark a career with a sense of ethics and a true yearning to benefit your community, you’re gold. Greenpeace, biomedical engineering, politics, whatever. Money and service aren’t mutually exclusive either. As for myself, I do want to be well-off, but I hope that in my twilight years I can devote some time to doing nice stuff (teaching, volunteering, the works).</p>
<p>The only answer is farmers; without them, a nation depends on others for food. If the U.S. depended on Mexico and South America for food, we would be screwed.</p>
<p>Mcdonalds: without it countless numbers of fat Americans would lose their winter blubber and no longer be able to hibernate and would consequently have to resort to eating their young to maintain their high calorie diet.</p>
<p>Educators and Educational Institutions- Who is going to teach the financial analysts to be financial analysts? The engineers? The bureaucrats? The scientists? The farmers? Where are they going to gain these skills? By getting an education. A society is only as strong as its educational system.</p>