More Kids Want to Be YouTubers Than Astronauts Because Obviously
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1. How does this compare to historical trends in the US? Did more kids in the 80s want to be rock stars or Hollywood actors, for example.
2. How is the author establishing a relationship between occupational earnings and the ambition of young people? Do we know that this is even a significant factor or could there be other motivations (popular culture placing more value on Internet celebrities than scientists, for example).
3. What other variance is at play in the country data? You can’t rule out differences in the US and Chinese education systems, for example. There are many sociological and technological factors you need to parse here.
4. How much does this even matter? “What do you want to be when you grow up” is a question most of us have been asked at some point but how many of us stuck to those dreams? Further, there may be an argument for having a diversity of skills and experiences that is often limited by rigid educational and career paths. Some of the best software developers I have worked with have been musicians and artists.
All that said, I think it would be great if becoming an astronaut had the same or more appeal to young people as social media fame. I’ll also say that it’s never too late (look at Richard Garriott who took a break from designing video games to become a citizen astronaut). One of my life goals is to go to space before I die and I think it’s a real possibility.
It could matter a lot of a kid is motivated enough. They could start now and at the very least end up developing skills like video editing, publishing, maybe even coding or a deeper understanding of computing.
It might develop an entrepreneurial spirit which could be a real difference maker in their life vs. the path towards astronaut or lawyer or doctor (careers which take a lot of schooling).
If you compare the dream of becoming a YouTuber to rockstar or sports athlete, I can see the path to YouTuber having more transferable skills come out of it than the other paths even if they never achieve the dream.
* Extremely high qualifications needed
* Minuscule chance of making it through the selection process
* Job is endless dealing with bureaucracy and the ever changing whims of governments, or, in the private sector, of narcissistic plutocrats.
* At best, you go on a handful of space missions in your entire career.
* And the work you get to perform on those missions is roughly the scientific equivalent of lighting a fart in space.
Creating content for millions of viewers, having the pulse of what a large audience wants, the right personality, etc go much farther
And I think those skills can translate over to our connected world
Regardless of your age, we are a selfish society, and from a selfish perspective, youtuber is the obvious choice.
And there is not "a world where money means everything" vs a world where money means less, money is literally an abstract representation of your trade capability with other people. If you want to trade things directly without the usage of money, you're free to do so at the loss of a convenient abstraction. If you'd like to choose a different abstraction, like gold or real estate, you're free to do so. If you don't want to trade goods and services at all and do everything yourself, you're free to do so at the loss of convenience that comes from the division of labor. If you want to find a community of like-minded people that can pool available resources to grab a plot of land to collectively self-sustain, you're free to do so.
So no, this isn't some "we live in a society where..." situation where kids now want to be YouTubers because that's what society "values." The market barely values it, there are probably like 10000 successful YouTubers. Choosing that as a career path, given that they are primarily motivated by money, would be an idiotic decision. They're clearly motivated by other factors, like fame, peer adulation, flexible hours, and interest in the job itself. If money was the primary motivator, they'd choose almost any other profession.