What Impresses People?

[Hanarchy Montanarchy]

I'm really different from you guys: I'd want to stranded somewhere with me, not Michael Jordan, Bono, or Mother Teressa.

I think you might be surprised how quickly that might wither under the lights, but if it is any consolation, your insights are almost certainly more interesting than Jordan, Bono, or Teressa's.

[Martin Hash]

There are definitely insights in this thread, just got to tease them out.

p.s. I've made it clear this is not a topic I understand.

[Okeefenokee]

I figure I've taken long enough to answer the OP.

I'd say it's probably recognizable difficulty being overcome.

Cortez marching into Mexico city with 400 Spanish soldiers, and a thousand native allies, without one iota of resistance from the Mexica Emperor, who ruled over a populace numbering in the millions, simply based on the recognition of his previous accomplishments, that's impressive.

Watching steam engine videos, learning about them, trying to understand all the moving pieces, and realizing I wasn't up to the task, was what convinced me to take this route. They impressed me, and I wanted to be like the people that made them.

[C-Mag]

Dr Hash, you are literally a Polymath, and you should probably quit using Doctor and Esquire as honored titles and just use Polymath after your name...... no one can argue it.

MARTIN HASH, POLYMATH is impressive.

As to what really impresses people....... people have to have a stake in you somehow. Jonas Salk impressed people because he cured the most feared disease of his age, Shakespeare related the human condition in plays, Michael Jordan impressed people because he was clearly out performing all his peers.

On top of this, these people were likeable, others related to them.

As noted in this thread, there are many Nobel laureates, but can we relate to them ? As with Leadership, you have to be able to relate to those you wish to influence.

[SuburbanFarmer]

Application trumps technology every time.

[Okeefenokee]

Application trumps technology every time.

The application of what?

[SuburbanFarmer]

Application trumps technology every time.

The application of what?

The application of the technology. Abstract ideas, like degrees, are not impressive to a stranger. What you did with it is.

[Okeefenokee]

Application trumps technology every time.

The application of what?

The application of the technology. Abstract ideas, like degrees, are not impressive to a stranger. What you did with it is.

Degrees are not technology. Technology and application are too closely tied to be so easily separated. The cotton gin was technology. The application was the furthering of the profitability of slavery. The purpose of the technology was directly tied to the application in a way that the two can't be separated. It would be like trying to separate eating from health.

Eating is just an idea, but what you do with it, living, that's impressive.

The internal combustion engine is just an idea, but what you do with it, cars, that's impressive.

Nuclear fission is just an idea, but what you do with it, atomic bombs, that's impressive.

Application doesn't trump technology. Application depends upon technology.

[SuburbanFarmer]

The application of what?

The application of the technology. Abstract ideas, like degrees, are not impressive to a stranger. What you did with it is.

Degrees are not technology. Technology and application are too closely tied to be so easily separated. The cotton gin was technology. The application was the furthering of the profitability of slavery. The purpose of the technology was directly tied to the application in a way that the two can't be separated. It would be like trying to separate eating from health.

Eating is just an idea, but what you do with it, living, that's impressive.

The internal combustion engine is just an idea, but what you do with it, cars, that's impressive.

Nuclear fission is just an idea, but what you do with it, atomic bombs, that's impressive.

Application doesn't trump technology. Application depends upon technology.

Ok, take the discovery of a theoretical physics property, like quantum mechanics. Not useful to anyone, and a little unsettling. Create an application, like a transporter beam, and that's impressive.

Theory of gravity - interesting to fellow academics, not the public. Work out the motions of the universe with it, now you're a hero.

[katarn]

I'm not a world-famous psychiatrist or anything, but..

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-cond ... n-20025568

I listened to ACS today. They all took Dr Drew's narcissistic test. Turns out it's more about not caring about others than it is about caring a lot about yourself, or so they said.

CS Lewis had something like that. "Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less." The quote should the be extended [and make up the difference with thinking of others].