I just read an excellent article written by Richard Nass in the August 2014 issue of Design News magazine. Mr. Nass’s article was entitled “Who Deserves to Make the Big Bucks?” His article inspired me to write this blog about our society’s and the global perception of big bucks and our future.
The basic premise of this article is a quote used by Mr. Nass from the keynote presentation by Dean Karmen. Mr. Karmen recently received the 2014 lifetime achievement award from UBM Cannon and is reportedly involved with a group whose acronym is ”FIRST.” It stands for:
”For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology”
According to the article, the mission of FIRST is;
”to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders by engaging them in exciting mentor based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication and leadership.”
According to Mr. Nass one of one of Mr. Karmen’s comments can be paraphrased as follows:
“Why are we celebrating someone to control a baseball 90 miles an hour or two can put a basketball through a hoop, when the real stars are the kids who are starting down the path toward changing the world.”
You can read on almost any mainstream media website, like, MSN.com, in the sports section, descriptions of astronomical sums of money being thrown at these young, and even not so young, sports people. This occurs in football, baseball, golf, gymnastics and baseball, and even in my favorite sport, tennis.
While I am in no way a sports fan, and typically avoid watching it, I am not anti-sports. I do appreciate people who excel no matter what the activity.
However, Mr. Nash notes the current crop of NBA free agents in his article. He reflects on the monetary excess these talented people can expect from their status as free agents. He states;
“Those who are ‘free agents’, looking to latch on to the team that generally bids the highest for his services. And the numbers being thrown around our astronomical, upwards of $100 million (yup, you heard that right).”
However, along with the reported “astronomical” reward numbers, there also seems to be daily articles about these high profile, highly paid talented people going astray. For example, the following new story entitled, “Suspended Browns receiver Josh Gordon gets new gig selling cars at Ohio dealership.” This story on Fox Sports news notes “Gordon will be working a full work week - a minimum of 40 hours - according to Sarchione, with responsibilities in "every facet" of the dealership, including selling cars. Sarchione also said Gordon will be getting involved in the community by working with local charities.” Allegedly, Mr. Gordon was caught violating the league substance abuse policy.
In addition, recent news articles about domestic violence, as well as, drug use by high profile individuals, specifically in the sports arena, makes this issue even more relevant.
I applaud the NFL for cracking down on drug and domestic violence issues with both players and employees. These high profile, highly paid talented people have a dramatic and real impact on the younger generation. They are high visibility people who should be held to a higher standard for their very public actions because of their impact on future generations.
I do however question, just like Mr. Karmen, why we idolize and put these people on a pedestal when they really have very little long term impact on our society in any very deep way. Just because they command a large amount of public visibility and certainly a large, if not obscene amount of compensation, what do they really contribute? While I realize they provide entertainment and can be very beneficial role models for young people to one degree or another, is this really what we want our society to look like?
I spend a lot of time watching the Microsoft Research Video Library on the Internet. This program features some of the most innovative people in all aspects of life. The programs presented range from authors talking about their books to computer programmers talking about the research.
Topics/titles include:
· Introducing Project Adam: A New Deep Learning Program
· The Purpose Economy
· Recurrent Neural Networks for Dialog State Tracking
· Ultra Low Power Computers – 2014: Devices & Cloud
In my opinion, the people presenting on the Microsoft Research Video Library, as well as, the ones listening to them are the true “superstars.” They, in a very large way, are changing the perception and direction of our society. Many of these creative minds are the true innovators and builders of our technological society. They are the people who are propelling this country and our world forward into the 22nd century.
[Note: The Windows 8 app link for this library is as follows, http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/downloads/eb218b76-3520-481c-8489-ad09a99399ea/default.aspx.]
There are many other worthwhile informational web sites similar to the Microsoft Innovative Research Program which will expand your mind and pique your curiosity. With all of the new information technology available, I find it ironic that one of the countries with the highest standard of living the world has ever seen spends the following amounts of time watching television.
Specifically, Nielsen, a global information and measurement company, reports the average weekly usage for ascending age groups:
· Age - 2-11: Time watched - 24 hours, 16 minutes.
· Age - 12-17: Time watched -20 hours, 41 minutes.
· Age - 18-24: Time watched - 22 hours, 27 minutes.
· Age - 25-34: Time watched -27 hours, 36 minutes.
· Age - 35-49: Time watched - 33 hours, 40 minutes.
· Age - 50-64: Time watched - 43 hours, 56 minutes.
· Age - 65-plus: Time watched - 50 hours, 34 minutes.
· [From: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/average-american-watches-5-hours-tv-day-article-1.1711954: also http://www.nielsen.com]
While the television is an incredible invention which changed the world, much of the current programming, in my opinion, is in the same paradigm as the sports programs. While entertaining, these programs do little to inspire creativity or generate much in the way of thought. The Nielsen figures say a lot for the world we have created and for the one we are creating going forward.
So with the world in the state it is, why do we still revere the person who can throw a baseball at 90 mile per hour, sink a 100 foot put or put a basketball through a hoop? Perhaps life has become too easy for many in America and around the globe. After all it is easier to “sit” and be “entertained” rather than watch, read or study something that arouses curiosity and makes you think.
Or maybe it is “big business” with massive advertising campaigns and huge inventories of products and services to sell to make next quarter’s bottom line which drives us.
Either way, I believe the big bucks are not going to the people who will make this world better using their creativity and innovation in fields like engineering, science and technology. And yet, these are the people who, in large measure, give the most back to our society both in productivity and intellect.
Clearly we have wonderful technology which can and hopefully will dramatically change the world in years to come. What we lack are creative and innovative minds who both see value from using those talents and are valued for those talents, much as the sports stars are today. We need to adopt a mission statement like that of FIRST as a society.
From medicine to space travel, we need a paradigm shift to create and enhance minds like those that FIRST is trying to inspire and help develop.
H. Court Young
Promoting awareness through the written word
September 18, 2014
