[Sherminator333]

everyone knows MC Hammer invented the hammer lol!

[whiskeyjack]

well the world will continue turning at least....

[QBall]

DrCaleb DrCaleb:

QBall QBall:

$1:

"While some of these findings will raise a smile, it suggests that school children aren't tuned into our scientific heroes in the same way that they might be to sporting or music legends," said Dr. Pam Waddell of Birmingham Science City.

Um, that's because music and sports have a more personal impact to us than some egghead who created or discovered something that many use but few understand. Music and sports stars usually reveal they are flawed and are only human. Scientists rarely do.

Really? A basketball or baseball player who get paid millions has less impact on your life, compared to say, a microwave oven? Or velcro? How about airbags or antilock brakes? Can a 3 pointer save your life? Why does society revere people who entertain us over people who make out lives better?

Like Bart says, our priorities are ass-backwards. Dean Kamen, Ed Witten, Marc Tilden - these are a few of the people I hold in high regard. I can't actually name any sports people (outside of F1) off the top of my head.

If you think scientists can't have personal scandals, just read a climate change thread around here once in a while.

We appreciate the items these people create, but to hold up the inventor as a hero is kind of loony. A sports team or our favorite music is something we get an emotional attachment to. They bring us joy and we understand how the game works. Some go into great detail studying the game, even though they may not participate in the game, because it's within easy grasp of the common man. A sports team can unite a city, a province or a nation. A microwave cannot do this. A microwave is a complex machine that very few truly understand or even wish to understand because no one creates an emotional attachment to it. The same goes with velcro, anti-lock brakes, etc. Many people go on vacations to get away from all of these inventions because they see it as complicating their lives. No emotional attachment means no appreciation for the people who invent them or discover them.
Also many inventors' inventions are obsolete or have changed so much that the original inventor might not even understand it, so their accomplishment becomes a point of trivia. Alexander Graham Bell might have invented the telephone, but could he have envisioned the cell phone or satellite phone. Edison's phonograph has been replaced by several generations of new media (8 track; cassette; CD; MP3).
As for the climate scientists, can anyone even name one without resorting to Google?

[DrCaleb]

QBall QBall:

We appreciate the items these people create, but to hold up the inventor as a hero is kind of loony. A sports team or our favorite music is something we get an emotional attachment to. They bring us joy and we understand how the game works. Some go into great detail studying the game, even though they may not participate in the game, because it's within easy grasp of the common man. A sports team can unite a city, a province or a nation.

But the joy is fleeting. It only lasts for a short time. The enrichment that some inventions bring to our lives is ongoing. Yet we adore the fleeting joy of entertainment, but ignore the people who bring us the ongoing enrichment to our lives. If you've ever been in hospital, you might have been hooked up to a machine that automatically dispenses medicine, or drugs or lifesaving fluids - one of the many inventions of Dean Kamen. People use his portable dialysis machines all the time to prolong their lives, but don't even think to find out who invented it.

They are somehow more concerned with baseball statistics.

QBall QBall:

A microwave cannot do this. A microwave is a complex machine that very few truly understand or even wish to understand because no one creates an emotional attachment to it. The same goes with velcro, anti-lock brakes, etc. Many people go on vacations to get away from all of these inventions because they see it as complicating their lives. No emotional attachment means no appreciation for the people who invent them or discover them.

A microwave is actually relatively simple. (compared to a computer for example). It's basic operation could be explained to anyone without all the technical jargon, if they put a little effort into understanding. Information easily processed by anyone capable of naming the entire roster of the 1974 Superbowl champs.

These are the things that make life easier, but we don't recognize the people who's inventions save lives every day. We are more concerned with the extra marital activities of a billionaire who plays golf, as if it had any bearing on our lives.

QBall QBall:

Also many inventors' inventions are obsolete or have changed so much that the original inventor might not even understand it, so their accomplishment becomes a point of trivia. Alexander Graham Bell might have invented the telephone, but could he have envisioned the cell phone or satellite phone. Edison's phonograph has been replaced by several generations of new media (8 track; cassette; CD; MP3).
As for the climate scientists, can anyone even name one without resorting to Google?

That's my point exactly. Alexandre Graham Bell is well known, but his inventions are barely used in todays society, because his work was improved upon so that it barely is recognizable from his original designs. People don't care to know George de Mestral, despite his invention being used by them almost every day. Nor do they know the MP3 audio format was designed in the AT&T Labs that bear the name of Alexander Graham Bell.

We see these things every day, yet we don't pay attention to the people that made them to enrich our lives. Our priorities are messed up, to the point where an animated movie character becomes a historical figure to children who learned from their elders how to not give a shit.

[GreenTiger]

Don't tell that to Buzz Aldrin, he'll knock you flat on your ass.