I'm interested in the statement 'teaching is an optimization problem'. I enjoy teaching (did it professionally for a brief and happy time in my life) but this is the first time I've encountered the idea it's an optimization problem. Could you speak a bit more on that?
Regarding making money, I've found at least one way that I think aligns the different needs - some of the videos on my youtube channel are book reviews and summaries of books I've genuinely enjoyed and find worth recommending. Easy way to put an affiliate link in front of people who'd appreciate it, and it's not enough of a concern for me that I'd ever be tempted to recommend a book I didn't personally love just to create content.
I love the affiliate link idea, as long as the videos aren't primarily built to drive traffic to the affiliate link. Those tend to be fluff. (Not saying you're doing that, but I know it happens.)
Re optimization, imagine an instructional book on any particular topic, and the publisher decides that to maximize revenue, the book must be 350 pages. But the topic can be concisely and effectively covered in 150 pages. So the author pads the content with unrelated topics and verbosity. It's now an inefficient way to learn the material. It could be optimized by bringing it to 150 pages.
But is that all? Is there some way to get the same amount of learning done in 100 pages? In 50 pages?
I have a 20 page powerpoint presentation. Is that the best way of getting this information across? Could I craft a three sentence problem prompt, split the class into teams, and have them learn more in less time?
Regarding making money, I've found at least one way that I think aligns the different needs - some of the videos on my youtube channel are book reviews and summaries of books I've genuinely enjoyed and find worth recommending. Easy way to put an affiliate link in front of people who'd appreciate it, and it's not enough of a concern for me that I'd ever be tempted to recommend a book I didn't personally love just to create content.