--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The work that is truly productive is the…" description: "\"The work that is truly productive is the domain of a steadily smaller and more elite fraction of humanity.\" — Vernor Vinge" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9cd/vernor-vinge-4357_domain_the-work-that-is-truly-productive-is-the_986669.jpg" --- # The work that is truly productive is the domain of a… ![“The work that is truly productive is the domain of a steadily smaller and more elite fraction of humanity.” quote by Vernor Vinge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9cd/vernor-vinge-4357_domain_the-work-that-is-truly-productive-is-the_986669.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9cd/vernor-vinge-4357_domain_the-work-that-is-truly-productive-is-the_986669.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9cd/vernor-vinge-4357_domain_the-work-that-is-truly-productive-is-the_986669.jpg) > “The work that is truly productive is the domain of a steadily smaller and more elite fraction of humanity.” [Vernor Vinge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vernor-vinge/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Only a small elite can achieve truly productive work in a complex world. **In simple terms:** Productivity is elite-driven. Key Takeaway Focus on high-impact work. Themes productivity elitism technology Mood critical thoughtful Type sociopolitical analytical When to use this quote - research - high tech - policy making Key Concepts economic stratification future studies Questions to Reflect On - Who should have access to productive opportunities? - How can we broaden elite productivity? A Different Perspective Excludes broader participation and equity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Domain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/domain/) [Fraction Humanity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fraction-humanity-1049275/) [Fractions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fractions/) [Humanity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humanity/) [Productive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/productive/) [Productive Domain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/productive-domain-1993706/) [Productivity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/productivity/) [Smaller Elite](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/smaller-elite-1993704/) [Truly Productive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truly-productive-1993705/) ## Related quotes > [ We need a smaller and elite military, as \[Donald\]Rumsfeld said - and also a smaller and elite foreign policy. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-paul/we-need-a-smaller-and-elite-military-as-donald-rumsfeld-said-and-also/) [Ron Paul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-paul/) > [You are fooling yourself whenever you think you are productive just because you have worked fourteen hours in a day. 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You work with space, you have a camera, you have a frame, and then a fraction of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastiao-salgado/i-have-a-way-to-photograph-you-work-with-space-you-have-a-camera-you/) [Sebastiao Salgado](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sebastiao-salgado/) > [I am certain that children always know more than they are able to tell, and that makes the big difference between them and adults,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-lusseyran/i-am-certain-that-children-always-know-more-than-they-are-able-to/) [Jacques Lusseyran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-lusseyran/) ## More by Vernor Vinge > [I have come to kill you."The death's heads shrugged. "You have come to try.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vernor-vinge/i-have-come-to-kill-you-the-death-s-heads-shrugged-you-have-come-to/) [Vernor Vinge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vernor-vinge/) > [“From this era on, I think invention will be the parent of necessity – and not the other way around.’ That was easy for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vernor-vinge/from-this-era-on-i-think-invention-will-be-the-parent-of-necessity/) [Vernor Vinge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vernor-vinge/) > [How to explain? How to describe? Even the omniscient viewpoint quails.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vernor-vinge/how-to-explain-how-to-describe-even-the-omniscient-viewpoint-quails/) [Vernor Vinge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vernor-vinge/) > [All his life he had lived by the law. Often his job had been to stop acts of revenge…And now revenge was all that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vernor-vinge/all-his-life-he-had-lived-by-the-law-often-his-job-had-been-to-stop/) [Vernor Vinge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vernor-vinge/) > [Animals can adapt to problems and make inventions, but often no faster than natural selection can do its work - the world acts as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vernor-vinge/animals-can-adapt-to-problems-and-make-inventions-but-often-no-faster/) [Vernor Vinge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vernor-vinge/) > [Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vernor-vinge/within-thirty-years-we-will-have-the-technological-means-to-create/) [Vernor Vinge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vernor-vinge/) > [“Tycoon had a peddler's talent for using words to redefine reality.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vernor-vinge/tycoon-had-a-peddler-s-talent-for-using-words-to-redefine-reality/) [Vernor Vinge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vernor-vinge/) > [It is a point where our old models must be discarded and a new reality rules.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vernor-vinge/it-is-a-point-where-our-old-models-must-be-discarded-and-a-new/) [Vernor Vinge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vernor-vinge/) > [The heart of manipulation is to empathize without being touched.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vernor-vinge/the-heart-of-manipulation-is-to-empathize-without-being-touched/) [Vernor Vinge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vernor-vinge/) > [“I’m a librarian, not a leader.” “You’re both! Librarians and archeologists have always been the ones to bring civilization back.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vernor-vinge/i-m-a-librarian-not-a-leader-you-re-both-librarians-and-archeologists/) [Vernor Vinge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vernor-vinge/) > [“While We are out of Touch or How to Survive and Prosper during the Next Thirty Minutes by Your Friend, the Mysterious Stranger”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vernor-vinge/while-we-are-out-of-touch-or-how-to-survive-and-prosper-during-the/) [Vernor Vinge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vernor-vinge/) > [If there be only hours, at least learn what there is time to learn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vernor-vinge/if-there-be-only-hours-at-least-learn-what-there-is-time-to-learn/) [Vernor Vinge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vernor-vinge/) > [“Over the last few weeks, some newsgroups have been full of tales of war and battle fleets, of billions dying in the clash of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vernor-vinge/over-the-last-few-weeks-some-newsgroups-have-been-full-of-tales-of/) [Vernor Vinge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vernor-vinge/) > [Hexapodia as the key insight...I haven't had a chance to see the famous video from Straumli Realm, except as an evocation. (My only gateway…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vernor-vinge/hexapodia-as-the-key-insight-i-haven-t-had-a-chance-to-see-the-famous/) [Vernor Vinge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vernor-vinge/) > [“Nau had been very careful that enough nukes remained. If necessary, he could play the old, old game of total disaster management. So what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vernor-vinge/nau-had-been-very-careful-that-enough-nukes-remained-if-necessary-he/) [Vernor Vinge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vernor-vinge/) [Explore all 111 Vernor Vinge quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vernor-vinge/) ## More Domain quotes > [Limit use of shareware and public domain software to systems without fixed disks. If you do use them on fixed disks, allocate separate subdirectories...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mcafee/limit-use-of-shareware-and-public-domain-software-to-systems-without/) [John McAfee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mcafee/) > [When people are suicidal, their thinking is paralyzed, their options appear spare or nonexistent, their mood is despairing, and hopelessness permeates their entire mental…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kay-redfield-jamison/when-people-are-suicidal-their-thinking-is-paralyzed-their-options/) [Kay Redfield Jamison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kay-redfield-jamison/) > [I'm saying that the domain of poetry includes both oral & written forms, that poetry goes back to a pre-literate situation & would survive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerome-rothenberg/i-m-saying-that-the-domain-of-poetry-includes-both-oral-written-forms/) [Jerome Rothenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerome-rothenberg/) > [An academic discipline, or any other semiotic domain, for that matter, is not primarily content, in the sense of facts and principles. It is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-paul-gee/an-academic-discipline-or-any-other-semiotic-domain-for-that-matter/) [James Paul Gee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-paul-gee/) > [What 'eminent domain' laws mean in practice is that politicians have a right to seize your property and turn it over to someone else,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sowell/what-eminent-domain-laws-mean-in-practice-is-that-politicians-have-a/) [Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sowell/) > [I think fiction allows you to inhabit new domains and it's you, the reader living in that domain for a few days that results…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohsin-hamid/i-think-fiction-allows-you-to-inhabit-new-domains-and-it-s-you-the/) [Mohsin Hamid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohsin-hamid/) > [I do not actually see how art, literature can be anything other that being in that domain of trying to tell us, trying to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chinua-achebe/i-do-not-actually-see-how-art-literature-can-be-anything-other-that/) [Chinua Achebe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chinua-achebe/) > [I didn't say wonderful, I say eminent domain is something you need Chris. Eminent domain - if I build a highway - go ahead.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-trump/i-didn-t-say-wonderful-i-say-eminent-domain-is-something-you-need/) [Donald Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-trump/) > [Cliché activates the comfortable mental laziness, we sort of revert to the domain of the already-familiar, what we have already imagined so that it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aleksandar-hemon/clich-activates-the-comfortable-mental-laziness-we-sort-of-revert-to/) [Aleksandar Hemon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aleksandar-hemon/) > [With cooking, there's always the tangible and the intangible: that which is in the domain of sentiment, of the individual.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-ducasse/with-cooking-there-s-always-the-tangible-and-the-intangible-that/) [Alain Ducasse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-ducasse/) > [I also like the whole idea of fairy tales and folk tales being a woman's domain, considered a lesser domain at the time they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-hoffman/i-also-like-the-whole-idea-of-fairy-tales-and-folk-tales-being-a/) [Alice Hoffman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-hoffman/) > [In the domain of cops and robbers, an interdiction serves to structure a black market and a shadow economy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-irwin-thompson/in-the-domain-of-cops-and-robbers-an-interdiction-serves-to-structure/) [William Irwin Thompson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-irwin-thompson/) > [On the contrary, the characteristic element of the present situation is that economic questions have finally and irrevocably invaded the domain of public life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-henderson/on-the-contrary-the-characteristic-element-of-the-present-situation/) [Arthur Henderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-henderson/) > [I don't think I have committed a crime outside the domain of the US.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-snowden/i-don-t-think-i-have-committed-a-crime-outside-the-domain-of-the-us/) [Edward Snowden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-snowden/) > [A good zoo," Stella said, "is a large domain. A wild cage. A safe place to be. It has room to roam and humans…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katherine-applegate/a-good-zoo-stella-said-is-a-large-domain-a-wild-cage-a-safe-place-to/) [Katherine Applegate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katherine-applegate/) [Browse all 529 Domain quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/domain/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The work that is truly productive is the domain of a steadily smaller and more elite fraction of humanity.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Vernor Vinge" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vernor-vinge/the-work-that-is-truly-productive-is-the-domain-of-a-steadily-smaller/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Domain" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vernor-vinge/the-work-that-is-truly-productive-is-the-domain-of-a-steadily-smaller/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9cd/vernor-vinge-4357_domain_the-work-that-is-truly-productive-is-the_986669.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9cd/vernor-vinge-4357_domain_the-work-that-is-truly-productive-is-the_986669.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9cd/vernor-vinge-4357_domain_the-work-that-is-truly-productive-is-the_986669.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The work that is truly productive is the domain of a steadily smaller and more elite fraction of humanity.” — Vernor Vinge", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Vernor Vinge", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vernor-vinge/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The work that is truly productive...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vernor-vinge/the-work-that-is-truly-productive-is-the-domain-of-a-steadily-smaller/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vernor-vinge/the-work-that-is-truly-productive-is-the-domain-of-a-steadily-smaller/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```