The Bright Stuff
June 27, 2004 10:38 AM Subscribe
The Bright Stuff according to The Observer : "Here's our new selection of 80 prodigiously talented young people - scientists, DJs, novelists, architects, politicians - who we believe will shape our lives in the early 21st century" Many familiar names, including Nick Denton, Daniel Brown and Carl Churchill [A to L, M to Z].
DJs...will shape our lives in the early 21st century
OK....right.
posted by drinkcoffee at 10:59 AM on June 27, 2004
OK....right.
posted by drinkcoffee at 10:59 AM on June 27, 2004
46 is young? Does that mean I can loaf for a while longer before trying to achieve anything?
posted by biffa at 11:50 AM on June 27, 2004
posted by biffa at 11:50 AM on June 27, 2004
I checked just once, but I see only 4 scientific researchers. I would think the top researchers/engineers/designers in academia/industry would have a pretty profound impact on society and the world at large.
posted by Gyan at 1:21 PM on June 27, 2004
posted by Gyan at 1:21 PM on June 27, 2004
I would think the top researchers/engineers/designers in academia/industry would have a pretty profound impact on society and the world at large.
Yeah, but can they lay down the real deal on the wheels of steel to get that booty shakin'? I doubt it.
Actually, I think that in those fields (science, engineering, research), people tend to receive hype towards the end of their career rather than at the beginning.
posted by Jimbob at 5:24 PM on June 27, 2004
Yeah, but can they lay down the real deal on the wheels of steel to get that booty shakin'? I doubt it.
Actually, I think that in those fields (science, engineering, research), people tend to receive hype towards the end of their career rather than at the beginning.
posted by Jimbob at 5:24 PM on June 27, 2004
In the past *week* I have read articles that someone has created the first effective treatment for Type I diabetes, *and* someone else has come up with a way to manufacture large quantities of inexpensive amorphous steel--with twice the hardness and twice the strength of regular steel.
There are about three DOZEN major space probes in space right now, going in every which direction. Soon the Arctic will melt, opening a convenient route between the US and Russia, at the expense of New Orleans, which will be under water.
A fuel cell the size of your thumb is going to be sold within a few months that can power an mp3 player for 20 hours on 2cc(!) of methanol, and scalable fuel cells will soon be powering your house and car, if you like.
A private rocket ship has completed the first voyage to space, which if it can be duplicated in two weeks will earn the "X Prize."
The Australians are about to launch a VAST titanium mining operation--imagine titanium as cheap as aluminum!
There is even a new ultra high speed, high bandwidth Internet on the way. Download a movie in 5 minutes.
So, I hear Britney Shpears is getting married. Wow, will that affect my future.
posted by kablam at 7:16 PM on June 27, 2004
There are about three DOZEN major space probes in space right now, going in every which direction. Soon the Arctic will melt, opening a convenient route between the US and Russia, at the expense of New Orleans, which will be under water.
A fuel cell the size of your thumb is going to be sold within a few months that can power an mp3 player for 20 hours on 2cc(!) of methanol, and scalable fuel cells will soon be powering your house and car, if you like.
A private rocket ship has completed the first voyage to space, which if it can be duplicated in two weeks will earn the "X Prize."
The Australians are about to launch a VAST titanium mining operation--imagine titanium as cheap as aluminum!
There is even a new ultra high speed, high bandwidth Internet on the way. Download a movie in 5 minutes.
So, I hear Britney Shpears is getting married. Wow, will that affect my future.
posted by kablam at 7:16 PM on June 27, 2004
In 1979, this newspaper published a list of 80 young people The Observer predicted would define the country's culture, politics and economics for a generation. Many went on to become household names.
I'd like to see that list, and see exactly how many went on to become "household names", and how many went on to become "depressingly normal schlubs like the rest of us". And then draw some conclusion for this new bunch.
And besides, kiss of death, anyone?
posted by bright cold day at 8:20 PM on June 27, 2004
I'd like to see that list, and see exactly how many went on to become "household names", and how many went on to become "depressingly normal schlubs like the rest of us". And then draw some conclusion for this new bunch.
And besides, kiss of death, anyone?
posted by bright cold day at 8:20 PM on June 27, 2004
So if you're not a 'finance type' with 'a real job in the private sector', you're a waste of space, trharlan? I bet you're an absolute blast at parties:
trharlan: So, what do you do?
random stranger: I'm an architect, and a film direct---
trharlan: Booooring! Aren't there any stockbrokers in this place? Bond trader? Market-maker? Ken Lay? Anyone? [storms off in disgust]
It's a daft list, in so many ways, because it's written by journalists at the Obs who want to plug their mates. That's to say, it's 'a list of people who will get mentioned in the Observer in the future, and we want to say, "we talked about them first".' (For what it's worth, I know a handful of people mentioned: a couple of them are amazingly sharp 'finance/economics types', but trharlan wouldn't know that.)
Still, it was worth printing just to bring out the kind of shallow prejudices on display here.
posted by riviera at 8:44 PM on June 27, 2004
trharlan: So, what do you do?
random stranger: I'm an architect, and a film direct---
trharlan: Booooring! Aren't there any stockbrokers in this place? Bond trader? Market-maker? Ken Lay? Anyone? [storms off in disgust]
It's a daft list, in so many ways, because it's written by journalists at the Obs who want to plug their mates. That's to say, it's 'a list of people who will get mentioned in the Observer in the future, and we want to say, "we talked about them first".' (For what it's worth, I know a handful of people mentioned: a couple of them are amazingly sharp 'finance/economics types', but trharlan wouldn't know that.)
Still, it was worth printing just to bring out the kind of shallow prejudices on display here.
posted by riviera at 8:44 PM on June 27, 2004
I checked just once, but I see only 4 scientific researchers. I would think the top researchers/engineers/designers in academia/industry would have a pretty profound impact on society and the world at large.
Perhaps, but not as much as if they had 2 turntables and a microphone. MC Squared is in the house!
Seriously, this culture measures importance by the amount video footage.
posted by Ayn Marx at 10:10 PM on June 27, 2004
Perhaps, but not as much as if they had 2 turntables and a microphone. MC Squared is in the house!
Seriously, this culture measures importance by the amount video footage.
posted by Ayn Marx at 10:10 PM on June 27, 2004
"And besides, kiss of death, anyone?"
See Cyril Connolly, Enemies of Promise (1938): "Those whom the Gods would destroy, they first call promising."
posted by Ayn Marx at 10:13 PM on June 27, 2004
See Cyril Connolly, Enemies of Promise (1938): "Those whom the Gods would destroy, they first call promising."
posted by Ayn Marx at 10:13 PM on June 27, 2004
Jeez, trharlan, I hope you enjoyed your completely irrelevant bit of linkage.
Adam Smith and David Ricardo have "shaped" more lives than Clive Barker and David Chipperfield.
Quite. Now, Ricardo made his money in the City and retired to write his most important works. His success in business may have inspired his writings, but if he'd sat around in Gatcombe Park and done nothing but count his money after 1814, he wouldn't have shaped that many lives, would he?
And Adam Smith was... um, let me see? Oh yes, he was a professor. And then a tutor to a wealthy aristocrat. And then a full-time author. And then he worked for the government. Never did a day's private-sector finance in his life, basically.
With respect, I don't dispute that salarymen make the money, but they don't 'shape lives'. The contribution of Smith and Ricardo is different in kind as well as in degree to that of Fred Briefcase taking the Northern line into the office every day, and it's oh-so disingenuous of you to suggest so. There are pages of praise to Fred Briefcase every day: they're the 'business' section of your favourite paper.
And your point was? Beyond the apples & oranges, and the rather amusing American corporate-board-worship, that is?
posted by riviera at 11:33 PM on June 27, 2004
Adam Smith and David Ricardo have "shaped" more lives than Clive Barker and David Chipperfield.
Quite. Now, Ricardo made his money in the City and retired to write his most important works. His success in business may have inspired his writings, but if he'd sat around in Gatcombe Park and done nothing but count his money after 1814, he wouldn't have shaped that many lives, would he?
And Adam Smith was... um, let me see? Oh yes, he was a professor. And then a tutor to a wealthy aristocrat. And then a full-time author. And then he worked for the government. Never did a day's private-sector finance in his life, basically.
With respect, I don't dispute that salarymen make the money, but they don't 'shape lives'. The contribution of Smith and Ricardo is different in kind as well as in degree to that of Fred Briefcase taking the Northern line into the office every day, and it's oh-so disingenuous of you to suggest so. There are pages of praise to Fred Briefcase every day: they're the 'business' section of your favourite paper.
And your point was? Beyond the apples & oranges, and the rather amusing American corporate-board-worship, that is?
posted by riviera at 11:33 PM on June 27, 2004
bright cold day: Here is a discussion of the previous list, unfortunately without actually mentioning all of them. You'd have to buy the paper for that.
posted by biffa at 1:56 AM on June 28, 2004
posted by biffa at 1:56 AM on June 28, 2004
My argument was relevant because the leaders of the industry that comprises the greatest portion of a nation's economy must "shape" lives. It couldn't be any other way. Do you disagree with this? Do you still believe that my point is irrelevant?
I believe your point is irrelevant to this discussion, going right back to your little fit of pique at the beginning of the thread.
If "shaping" lives, to you, means kicking it with a fly DJ, or cracking open the new Harry Potter book, well, I see why we disagree.
Yawn. Straw man. Like I said, I think the Observer's list is basically a silly Sunday Format-esque list. But you were the one who turned it into an indictment of people who don't have 'real jobs' in the private sector.
I also know that while at least a couple of people in that list with an economics background may not end up as CEOs or even at 'an emerging firm', the advice they give, or the decisions they make, will affect... well, sixty million people, at last count. And I suspect that the effects will be for the better, because they're smart, passionate people. But no, you 'fear for [y]our friends across the pond' because those people don't have 'real jobs'. That's a fucking insult, born out of cheap, petty ignorance; those people could quite easily walk into high-paying private sector jobs, but they don't.
Here are the rules: You pick any architect and any city in the world. Walk down the street, downtown, and ask everyone you pass whether said architect has "shaped" their lives.
It's a stupid bet, and I really can't be arsed with this, but if I were, I'd stand outside Canary Wharf tube station and ask people about Norman Foster.
I'll walk down the street in Houston, and ask people if Ken Lay has "shaped" their lives. Wanna wager about who has shaped more lives?
And that's a definition of your own that's totally irrelevant in the context of the post. Look, I really don't quite grasp the force of your argument: you started with the 'shaped by the exceptional work of individuals' line (Smith/Ricardo) but, when I pointed out that neither were influential specifically for their work in private finance, you now appear to be going with the 'shaped by the unexceptional but vital everyday work of lots of people' line. Both are valid. But the subject-matter of the thread was the former one; you took exception with it on that basis, and now appear to be flannelling. But please, do continue heading off on passive-aggressive tangents to suit yourself.
One last thing, though. One of those cited in that original 1979 Observer list was a bloke called Eddie George, a 'finance type' who went straight from Cambridge to a job in the public sector. Never had a 'real job in the private sector'. You may have heard of him: he was the Governor of the Bank of England from 1993 till last year. Obviously his decisions (especially after the Bank gained operational independence over base rates in 1997) haven't 'shaped' anybody's life.
posted by riviera at 2:18 AM on June 28, 2004
I believe your point is irrelevant to this discussion, going right back to your little fit of pique at the beginning of the thread.
If "shaping" lives, to you, means kicking it with a fly DJ, or cracking open the new Harry Potter book, well, I see why we disagree.
Yawn. Straw man. Like I said, I think the Observer's list is basically a silly Sunday Format-esque list. But you were the one who turned it into an indictment of people who don't have 'real jobs' in the private sector.
I also know that while at least a couple of people in that list with an economics background may not end up as CEOs or even at 'an emerging firm', the advice they give, or the decisions they make, will affect... well, sixty million people, at last count. And I suspect that the effects will be for the better, because they're smart, passionate people. But no, you 'fear for [y]our friends across the pond' because those people don't have 'real jobs'. That's a fucking insult, born out of cheap, petty ignorance; those people could quite easily walk into high-paying private sector jobs, but they don't.
Here are the rules: You pick any architect and any city in the world. Walk down the street, downtown, and ask everyone you pass whether said architect has "shaped" their lives.
It's a stupid bet, and I really can't be arsed with this, but if I were, I'd stand outside Canary Wharf tube station and ask people about Norman Foster.
I'll walk down the street in Houston, and ask people if Ken Lay has "shaped" their lives. Wanna wager about who has shaped more lives?
And that's a definition of your own that's totally irrelevant in the context of the post. Look, I really don't quite grasp the force of your argument: you started with the 'shaped by the exceptional work of individuals' line (Smith/Ricardo) but, when I pointed out that neither were influential specifically for their work in private finance, you now appear to be going with the 'shaped by the unexceptional but vital everyday work of lots of people' line. Both are valid. But the subject-matter of the thread was the former one; you took exception with it on that basis, and now appear to be flannelling. But please, do continue heading off on passive-aggressive tangents to suit yourself.
One last thing, though. One of those cited in that original 1979 Observer list was a bloke called Eddie George, a 'finance type' who went straight from Cambridge to a job in the public sector. Never had a 'real job in the private sector'. You may have heard of him: he was the Governor of the Bank of England from 1993 till last year. Obviously his decisions (especially after the Bank gained operational independence over base rates in 1997) haven't 'shaped' anybody's life.
posted by riviera at 2:18 AM on June 28, 2004
Ta, biffa.
posted by bright cold day at 3:45 AM on June 28, 2004
posted by bright cold day at 3:45 AM on June 28, 2004
Service industries, particularly banking, insurance, and business services, account by far for the largest proportion of GDP and employ around 70% of the working population.
When trharlan says this he implies that banking, insurance, and business services employ around 70% of the working population. Which is absurd, as society would quickly collapse under its own inanity were this true.
He means to say that the service industry as a whole employs 70% of the working population and accounts for the largest portion of the GDP. This of course includes things like oh, say, resturaunts, hotels, car washes, landscapers, baby sitters, and dog walkers.
So in my opinion this list needs a few more valets and bartenders. Its a small world, y'all. The 80 most likely to affect your life not only have you heard of, you see them every day. They pump your gas, get your coffee, and carry your mail. Respect Due.
posted by ChasFile at 7:17 AM on June 28, 2004
When trharlan says this he implies that banking, insurance, and business services employ around 70% of the working population. Which is absurd, as society would quickly collapse under its own inanity were this true.
He means to say that the service industry as a whole employs 70% of the working population and accounts for the largest portion of the GDP. This of course includes things like oh, say, resturaunts, hotels, car washes, landscapers, baby sitters, and dog walkers.
So in my opinion this list needs a few more valets and bartenders. Its a small world, y'all. The 80 most likely to affect your life not only have you heard of, you see them every day. They pump your gas, get your coffee, and carry your mail. Respect Due.
posted by ChasFile at 7:17 AM on June 28, 2004
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posted by spazzm at 10:57 AM on June 27, 2004