You know, in my perfect world, it'd be a giant capitalist market place with little conflict between nations that like to stay competitive and trade and various government's only big jobs would be to bust monopolies, keep companies' books open for public scrutiny, and promote science that wouldn't necessarily have value in the marketplace (no profit motive, like going to the moon in 1969).

i know...most people in the world thats how they view the world...

what i am trying to do is that i dont want the guy who cure AIDS to have: $5 Million dollars because thats all he/she made respect the guy because sorry to be this raw but to a lot of people in the world if you cure AIDS you better own 20 states/countries...or make: $300 Billion dollars...otherwise screw you all...

you think is fair for someone to put extra hours, risk catching the disease and end up with: $5 million and someone else partying everyday or having life easy make: $100 million dollars...the first thing the scientist is going to tell you is he could be with his wife enjoying life...you got better odds becoming a bodybuilder than finding the cure to aids...or joining the NBA OR MLB and your team winning the world series / championship...

i think this is why some scientists end up joining terrorrist groups or work for terrorrist groups because they are underpaid....

tell me you might be in your world enjoying life, thinking God is good, but then a crazy scientist gets hired by a terrorrist groups comes out with a form of AIDS 5 TIMES STRONGER or a virus asteroid size with the planet name on it THEN WHERE IS YOUR WORLD...

?????

Scientists don't largely end up working for terrorists. And in a truly capitalist market-place, there'd be a profit motive for finding cures to diseases..... I don't think it's "unfair" that you can make lots and lots of money doing something like MLB.

There's plenty of history in say, America, of scientists making money and being highly praised for curing diseases. (See Jonas Salk, the Polio Vaccine) People tend to do what they like to do and/or are good at. And if they're good enough, they can get rich, as a result of the good they've done for society. That's capitalism.

Then if someone else makes millions on TV acting like a fool....... it's just not relevant to that scientist. That person's giving other people what they want.

on another thought:
a lot of people know a LOT of stuff, A LOT but it depends how you give them the test if you expect them to say the asnswer verbatim from the top of their head they will not such a feat is like walking in a hurricane but if you asked them multiple choice you will be suprise at how much people know...I MEAN A LOT BUT IT HAS TO BE MULTIPLE CHOICE NO OTHER AND IF YOU GIVE THEM 2 SHOTS TO GET IT CORRECT IS EVEN BETTER...

and sometimes you got to ask them in their language...

from a test scale from: 1- 100,000
you might think a person knows like 600 or have 600 points but when you ask multiple choice the person will end up knowing like: 18,000 points...

from a SAT test scale or any Test Scale from: 1- 100,000
you might think a person knows like 600 or have 600 points but when you ask multiple choice the person will end up knowing like: 18,000 points...