How profitable is it to learn physics?

(My answer to this question at Quora.com)

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Before you ask any question along the lines of How profitable is it to do X?, have a look at the diagram for ikigai, which is the Japanese concept meaning “reason for being”:

This one diagram should be taught at all schools and drummed into people from a young age. It would save millions of people from pursuing the wrong paths in their lives just in order to earn more money, or even from doing something they are good at, but don’t enjoy.

Ask yourself what are you good at, and enjoy doing to the point where you would do it even if you weren’t paid. Then see if you can earn a living at it, and, if possible, make the world a better place by doing so. If you achieve all four, you will have achieved your ikigai. That, rather than profit per se, is what matters.