Now we've seen Elon's genius in action, who else thinks the modern world throws the word "genius" around too often?
I've come to believe that one of the biggest mistakes of modern, western society was convincing every kid that they can be anything. I can see that there's plenty of people who are smarter than me, and plenty of people who are not, and that there's probably a place in society for all of them if they accepted it. That place is not rocket scientists and doctors across the board, but far too many people don't recognize those limitations in themselves...not just billionaires with huge egos.
I personally like the idea that people don't feel limited to the "place" society creates for them.
But I do think we've created a culture where fame and money are the biggest measures of success.
We need a society that allows people to find their perfect niche and be celebrated for doing so. Being a happy plumber, for example, should be seen as better than being a suicidal celebrity.
Sadly it's not.
Agreed. Much of my perspective on this has come from having a wife who's a public school science teacher. The teaching metrics are all "can we cram all of these kids into college" and the frank discussion needs to be more about finding the right place in society for everyone.
When you deal with thousands of teenagers the honest starting point should be that not everyone is going to go practice medicine and launch rockets into space and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. The grocery store needs cashiers, too, and we all need electricians and plumbers from time to time.
