Technology

Where does the long march to success begin?

2023-10-25 20:20:40

Of the 8 billion humans, only a few tens of thousands will be recognized internationally during our lifetime. Built into models or commercial products, an entire industry depends on them. Statistically, our chance of being part of it is of the order of 0.00001.1 ten thousandth.

Even if for every 10 Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian or Lionel Messi there is 1 Hubert Reeves, in all cases this recognition comes with media coverage. These stars know how to both choose the field of interest (music, sport, literature, business, etc.) and play the media game. Our appetite for their stories does the rest.

International recognition crowns talent, of course, but also the ability to deliver a performance. For those who are not interested, or who are not looking for it, take Warren Buffet for example, recognition comes more indirectly, but always goes through the media. He gives rare interviews, has written a few books, but it is mainly the media that have spotted him as an investor, at the top of the economic charts.

Researchers, most often unknown, have their moment of glory when they receive a Nobel Prize or a Fields medal and quickly fall out of the media field. They are not very “entertaining” with a few exceptions. You have to consult scholarly journals to follow them and even in these publications, the most recognized know how to highlight their results and generate interest.

Several popularizers enjoy popular success through a mixture of rigor and staging which makes subjects considered dry interesting. But for most researchers, the interest in their work is enough to keep their flame alive, regardless of public recognition. Which also applies to most of humanity: the satisfaction that one’s own activity brings provides most of the motivation.

Recognition as a secondary criterion

In each environment, recognition is closely linked to the interest aroused by a characteristic that stands out: original, remarkable, rare or difficult to achieve. By digitizing this recognition through “likes”, social networks make accessible an objective measurement of the attention paid and can thus quench our thirst for recognition for their greatest benefit… with recognized addictive effects.

In a way, financial success is another form of like: if you make a lot of money, you attract attention: paparazzi, tax inspectors, thieves, salesmen and those for whom the money is a supreme value, but what regarding satisfaction? After the exhilaration of the great evenings, what remains in front of the mirror?

I am what I want to be

With 10 likes, some are happy while others with 100,000 views consider that their star is fading. The comparison with a previous result or with the competition ends up taking up all the space to the point of calling into question one’s own scale of value: who am I if no one recognizes me? We exist to the extent that we can create an effect, but it is above all the consideration we give to this effect that counts.

For some, helping a single person reassures them of their value, many teachers change destinies but will only truly know it years later, nurses save lives and the value of the result is enough to establish their importance, and finally to others take pleasure in annoying those around them, which reassures them regarding their abilities. This shows that even if public recognition has to do with the value of the result, it is its consideration that counts for the person. We are the ones who grant it to ourselves. Depending on others to obtain it is an illusion.

Yes, public recognition can confirm our value, no it is not enough to satisfy us. This is the essential lesson to teach young people in need of social networks.

Our effect is real even if it is not recognized and that is all that ultimately matters. Those who benefit from posthumous recognition can attest to this. Their achievements, their courage, their dedication and their commitment to the pursuit of their goals, even if they did not achieve them, may never have been recognized during their lifetime but they become sources of inspiration for all humans, well beyond their popularity. Pioneers, openers of possibilities, tireless researchers, they move us forward even if the media know nothing regarding it.

The road to the stars may be long, but the satisfaction of progressing there is well worth the effort.

Illustration : Pexels – Pixabay

References

#StatusofMind – Social media and young people’s mental health and wellbeing – Royal Society for Public Health
https://www.rsph.org.uk/static/uploaded/d125b27c-0b62-41c5-a2c0155a8887cd01.pdf

Social networks: between addictive mechanics and social cursor, what is the “like” for?
https://www.neonmag.fr/societe-politique/reseaux-sociaux-entre-mecanique-addictive-et-curseur-social-a-quoi-sert-le-like-535020

Students’ aspirations for further education – OECD (2018)
https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/fr/les-aspirations-des-eleves-concernant-la-poursuite-de-leurs-etudes_5j90h4nhndjh.pdf

Celebrities

Taylor Swift – https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Swift

Kim Kardashian – https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Kardashian

Lionel Messi – https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Messi

Hubert Reeves – https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_Reeves

Warren Buffet – https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett