Flax, a big neural network JAX library, is developed and used by Brain. TF will stay around for boilerplate / data-loading, but JAX support probably isn’t going anywhere.
My job used to be about developing ML models for diagnostics (not vision, but other modalities). It mattered to me, it was fun and informative, and aspects of that company were a net positive.
Current job is about research in ML in general and no, I don't think it would matter a lot in the long term, but it's interesting and may turn out to be positive.
About 48% of the human population owns a smartphone (that doesn't include "feature phones"). 85% of American adults own a smartphone. 97% of Americans own a cellphone.
Lots of people can live without running water, sewer, power, cars, hygiene products, etc. but that doesn't make any of it practical in modern society in the US. There's of course a limit to this as to where the baseline is, but I'd say having a portable phone of some sort and internet access are pretty high up on that list.
The comments are similar, but the energy is different.
One of them read to me like "go and strive to be great in one of the million directions possible" and the other was "you won't win on any direction more than average, so settle down and live simple".