Assignment 5 - Gloria Dietz

As job specialization and division of labor became a common part of civilization, people started having more spare time.  This spare time caused an industry to develop: entertainment. The television, though able to spread important information quickly, is more often considered a form of entertainment.  The goal of the entertainment industry is to come up with intriguing shows that will appeal to a large audience. And the Emmy Awards have a large audience that watches them, while the Nobel Prizes don’t.  This causes the Emmy Awards to get a lot more television coverage than Nobel Prizes.

           What does this say about our society?

           Do we value television stars over groundbreaking scientists?

            I like to think the answer is no. I believe the reason the Emmys get more television time than these scientists is that the people who actually care about the Emmys are the people who watch television and see those television stars more regularly.  The Noble Prizes probably get more recognized in their respective fields, just as television stars gets recognized more in their field: television.