Uploaded October 2016 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago
Since The Weeknd just released the first singles from his new album, and one is called "Starboy," it seems like a good idea to touch on one of the odd things in our society, where entertainers become famous while some of our most valuable people, like scientists, doctors, and teachers, are unknown. The reasons for it may not be as obvious as they seem.
Clips from the "Starboy" video, background music is the karaoke version of the song. Other clips from A Beautiful Mind, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Whitney Houston, Stanford University Online Lectures, PBS Newshour, and more!
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VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
There's a problem in society. We glorify certain types of people. And it doesn't seem to come from how useful they are. If there's an apocalypse, builders, teachers, and doctors are going to be very important. While actors, entertertainers, and singers won't be. But the entertainers get ALL the attention.
CNN ANCHOR: "We glorify athletes too much when we should be glorifying, say, scientists or academics."
And it's been this way for awhile. Why?
Maybe it's about numbers. There are more teachers and doctors than singers and actors. So the singers and actors are better known. BUT there are far more singers and actors today than there are, say, Nobel Prize Winners. And far more people know the singers and actors. Likewise, those Nobel winners tend to be very very good at what they do, which isn't true of all the entertainers.
JUSTIN BIEBER (voice-cracking): "I lose my appetite."
Maybe entertainers draw more attention because what they do is glamorous. It appeals to us in an immediate and simple way. But what about the many other rich people, who have the same cars, jewelry and houses, who DON'T get that attention?
Maybe it's just because people are shallow. They don't know what they SHOULD care about. But that doesn't explain why SOME "deeper" ideas become huge and important.
So, let's try another answer. Which might fit with all of this. And which comes from, the BUSINESS side of things. You see, doctors and teachers ARE more valuable than entertainers. After all, a college course or hospital visit will cost you a lot more than a concert ticket. BUT, there's a key difference, in HOW that value can be sold.
Because, doctors and teachers, do a LARGE amount, for a SMALL number of people, while entertainers, do a SMALL amount, for a LARGE number of people. Medical services go to ONE person at a time. A doctor looks at YOU by yourself, and provides the advice or treatment that YOU alone need. Likewise, teachers work with classes of a few dozen people at a time, who need or want to learn about THAT specific topic. And work with them, answer the questions, and otherwise help THAT group to understand the ideas.
On the other hand, entertainment is MASS-produced. One performance, or recording, that works on our common feelings, and thus can be sold to HUGE numbers of people at a time. So, that small amount of value that entertainment provides, makes the most money, by being marketed to MILLIONS of people at once. Which thus includes the lead performer as part of that package. So you get a SMALL number of people, being exposed to a VERY LARGE audience. And the singer CAN be good OR BAD, or glamorous or NOT, and they'll still be made famous...as an unavoidable result.
BUT, does this mean that our most important people will NEVER get that level of credit? No, because, when what THEY do is ABLE to be spread to large numbers of people, they get famous too.
INTERVIEWER: "Who owns the patent for this vaccine."
JONAS SALK: "There is no patent. This is...could you patent the sun?"
And, actually, the fame THEY receive tends to be even wider-spread and longer-lasting. AND, as technology is advancing, it's starting to reach greater numbers of people by itself. Making our technological innovators become more known. AND, as education starts to become widely-accessible, some of the people who teach these important topics, will also naturally become known the same way. And the emotions which make us idolize people in those positions, can just as easily make us want to be like them. Now, how those emotions actually work...is a topic for later. Thanks.
Since The Weeknd just released the first singles from his new album, and one is called "Starboy," it seems like a good idea to touch on one of the odd things in our society, where entertainers become famous while some of our most valuable people, like scientists, doctors, and teachers, are unknown. The reasons for it may not be as obvious as they seem.
Clips from the "Starboy" video, background music is the karaoke version of the song. Other clips from A Beautiful Mind, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Whitney Houston, Stanford University Online Lectures, PBS Newshour, and more!
________________________________________________
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
There's a problem in society. We glorify certain types of people. And it doesn't seem to come from how useful they are. If there's an apocalypse, builders, teachers, and doctors are going to be very important. While actors, entertertainers, and singers won't be. But the entertainers get ALL the attention.
CNN ANCHOR: "We glorify athletes too much when we should be glorifying, say, scientists or academics."
And it's been this way for awhile. Why?
Maybe it's about numbers. There are more teachers and doctors than singers and actors. So the singers and actors are better known. BUT there are far more singers and actors today than there are, say, Nobel Prize Winners. And far more people know the singers and actors. Likewise, those Nobel winners tend to be very very good at what they do, which isn't true of all the entertainers.
JUSTIN BIEBER (voice-cracking): "I lose my appetite."
Maybe entertainers draw more attention because what they do is glamorous. It appeals to us in an immediate and simple way. But what about the many other rich people, who have the same cars, jewelry and houses, who DON'T get that attention?
Maybe it's just because people are shallow. They don't know what they SHOULD care about. But that doesn't explain why SOME "deeper" ideas become huge and important.
So, let's try another answer. Which might fit with all of this. And which comes from, the BUSINESS side of things. You see, doctors and teachers ARE more valuable than entertainers. After all, a college course or hospital visit will cost you a lot more than a concert ticket. BUT, there's a key difference, in HOW that value can be sold.
Because, doctors and teachers, do a LARGE amount, for a SMALL number of people, while entertainers, do a SMALL amount, for a LARGE number of people. Medical services go to ONE person at a time. A doctor looks at YOU by yourself, and provides the advice or treatment that YOU alone need. Likewise, teachers work with classes of a few dozen people at a time, who need or want to learn about THAT specific topic. And work with them, answer the questions, and otherwise help THAT group to understand the ideas.
On the other hand, entertainment is MASS-produced. One performance, or recording, that works on our common feelings, and thus can be sold to HUGE numbers of people at a time. So, that small amount of value that entertainment provides, makes the most money, by being marketed to MILLIONS of people at once. Which thus includes the lead performer as part of that package. So you get a SMALL number of people, being exposed to a VERY LARGE audience. And the singer CAN be good OR BAD, or glamorous or NOT, and they'll still be made famous...as an unavoidable result.
BUT, does this mean that our most important people will NEVER get that level of credit? No, because, when what THEY do is ABLE to be spread to large numbers of people, they get famous too.
INTERVIEWER: "Who owns the patent for this vaccine."
JONAS SALK: "There is no patent. This is...could you patent the sun?"
And, actually, the fame THEY receive tends to be even wider-spread and longer-lasting. AND, as technology is advancing, it's starting to reach greater numbers of people by itself. Making our technological innovators become more known. AND, as education starts to become widely-accessible, some of the people who teach these important topics, will also naturally become known the same way. And the emotions which make us idolize people in those positions, can just as easily make us want to be like them. Now, how those emotions actually work...is a topic for later. Thanks.
