> If only our society held intelligent people in the same regard as athletes.
I suspect you're comparing top paid athletes with low-end PhDs. Which might not be a fair comparison - who gets paid more, Michael Jordan or the CEO of Genentech? It might be fairer to compare a low-end PhD with, some college high jump athlete. So keep that in mind when I use the labels "intelligent" and "athlete".
Why? Intelligence is an inward quality. What good does it do to have 100,000 smart people? Athletes, however, are valued for their outward quality - they entertain us with their skill. They provide marginal utility for a huge chunk of society; intelligence in and of itself, only provides a marginal utility for the self.
So, unless you're some sort of Ayn-Rand individualist, really the athlete does do more good (for the collective) than the intelligent, and therefore is compensated more.
Note this is from a qualitative standpoint. Athletes are somewhat absurdly highly compensated, but there are reasons for that, but it shouldn't be surprising that Athletes are more compensated than the intelligent.
Obligatory David Wong quote:
Let's say that the person you love the most has just been shot. He or she is lying in the street, bleeding and screaming. A guy rushes up and says, "Step aside." He looks over your loved one's bullet wound and pulls out a pocket knife -- he's going to operate right there in the street.
"OK, which one is the injured one?"
You ask, "Are you a doctor?"
The guy says, "No."
You say, "But you know what you're doing, right? You're an old Army medic, or ..."
At this point the guy becomes annoyed. He tells you that he is a nice guy, he is honest, he is always on time. He tells you that he is a great son to his mother and has a rich life full of fulfilling hobbies, and he boasts that he never uses foul language.
Confused, you say, "How does any of that fucking matter when my (wife/husband/best friend/parent) is lying here bleeding! I need somebody who knows how to operate on bullet wounds! Can you do that or not?!?"
Now the man becomes agitated -- why are you being shallow and selfish? Do you not care about any of his other good qualities? Didn't you just hear him say that he always remembers his girlfriend's birthday? In light of all of the good things he does, does it really matter if he knows how to perform surgery?
I suspect you're comparing top paid athletes with low-end PhDs. Which might not be a fair comparison - who gets paid more, Michael Jordan or the CEO of Genentech? It might be fairer to compare a low-end PhD with, some college high jump athlete. So keep that in mind when I use the labels "intelligent" and "athlete".
Why? Intelligence is an inward quality. What good does it do to have 100,000 smart people? Athletes, however, are valued for their outward quality - they entertain us with their skill. They provide marginal utility for a huge chunk of society; intelligence in and of itself, only provides a marginal utility for the self.
So, unless you're some sort of Ayn-Rand individualist, really the athlete does do more good (for the collective) than the intelligent, and therefore is compensated more.
Note this is from a qualitative standpoint. Athletes are somewhat absurdly highly compensated, but there are reasons for that, but it shouldn't be surprising that Athletes are more compensated than the intelligent.
Obligatory David Wong quote:
Let's say that the person you love the most has just been shot. He or she is lying in the street, bleeding and screaming. A guy rushes up and says, "Step aside." He looks over your loved one's bullet wound and pulls out a pocket knife -- he's going to operate right there in the street.
"OK, which one is the injured one?"
You ask, "Are you a doctor?"
The guy says, "No."
You say, "But you know what you're doing, right? You're an old Army medic, or ..."
At this point the guy becomes annoyed. He tells you that he is a nice guy, he is honest, he is always on time. He tells you that he is a great son to his mother and has a rich life full of fulfilling hobbies, and he boasts that he never uses foul language.
Confused, you say, "How does any of that fucking matter when my (wife/husband/best friend/parent) is lying here bleeding! I need somebody who knows how to operate on bullet wounds! Can you do that or not?!?"
Now the man becomes agitated -- why are you being shallow and selfish? Do you not care about any of his other good qualities? Didn't you just hear him say that he always remembers his girlfriend's birthday? In light of all of the good things he does, does it really matter if he knows how to perform surgery?