The Quantum Essays: The quantum difference between work and speculation

.... a theoretical answer to why some work is of value to humankind, whilst other activity does nothing more than generate heat that contributes to entropy, but adds no real value to life. The perverse fact is that in our society, the former is undervalued, and the latter is massively overvalued because what we show is that the financial services sector is a work of no value, which only succeeds in destabilising society. 

Excerpt: "There is a fundamental distinction that we have forgotten in how we now think about the economy. It is the difference between work and speculation, which is, in quantum terms, the difference between what is real work and activity that is reversible.

This matters: it may not be overstating things to suggest that the distinction might be fundamental to a proper understanding of both what is useful labour and so economics itself.

Our suggestion is simple. It is that work that is of value to humankind produces an outcome that is irreversible. A person undertaking it has expended care and effort. A product has been made. Food has been grown. A service has been supplied. Care has been shown. Education has been delivered. The world is changed as a result, however slightly, because the energy a person expended has been irreversibly transformed into something tangible.

In the language of physics, the system has moved from one state to another, and there is no way back to the beginning without new input. Once the work is done, the change is permanent."