You’d have to narrow and categorize different domains of intellectualism—the VAST majority of athletes don’t get any attention at all, and those that do comprise a very small volume of athelticism-space. And you’d have to turn it into a contest that median humans could identify with.
I don’t think either of these changes would make things better. The top few percent of intellectuals could make a bunch of money (mostly through sponsorships, which may be unfortunate if we prefer them to be independent). A bunch of pretty-good intellectuals would learn that they’ll never make it big and be less effective than they now are.
Summary: Academia and intellectualism might be sub-optimal, but sports is horrible and should not be copied.
Other difficulties include type and durability of output. Paid/popular sports are performances—the value is in the action and instantaneous demonstration of talent and physique. Intellectual value (to observers) is in the output—papers, ideas, explanations, validation of models, etc. This is both far more durable and less repeatable than sporting events. A true meritocracy could very well lead to such dominance that we’re forced to sabotage the smartest/best.
You’d have to narrow and categorize different domains of intellectualism—the VAST majority of athletes don’t get any attention at all, and those that do comprise a very small volume of athelticism-space. And you’d have to turn it into a contest that median humans could identify with.
I don’t think either of these changes would make things better. The top few percent of intellectuals could make a bunch of money (mostly through sponsorships, which may be unfortunate if we prefer them to be independent). A bunch of pretty-good intellectuals would learn that they’ll never make it big and be less effective than they now are.
Summary: Academia and intellectualism might be sub-optimal, but sports is horrible and should not be copied.
Other difficulties include type and durability of output. Paid/popular sports are performances—the value is in the action and instantaneous demonstration of talent and physique. Intellectual value (to observers) is in the output—papers, ideas, explanations, validation of models, etc. This is both far more durable and less repeatable than sporting events. A true meritocracy could very well lead to such dominance that we’re forced to sabotage the smartest/best.