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| Prepare for trip outside of box |
We’re up late watching infomercials and so the idea of getting something for nothing seems possible. Imagine you hear the following: What would you say if I told you a way where you could get thousands of dollars to follow your dream? What if I could tell you how take a vacation from your work, travel where ever you’d like, do what you want, and get paid for it?
The Sunday Times of London reports on the latest winners in the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (“NESTA”) — a program too good to be true.
Here’s the skinny: In an effort to encourage the development of new ideas, the NESTA funds innovative projects it believes have some chance of producing new concepts to be marketed to fund more dream scholarships.
The fund began with an ?200,000,000 endowment in 1998 and has thus far produced only a few hundred dollars in royalties. Beneficiaries include hip-hop artists, psychologists, moody people and even magicians. (You knew there had to be some relationship to Magic).
So far the fund has paid more than ?1,000,000 to “thinkers” and inventors.
NESTA funded one woman’s plan to stay home from work so she could “monitor her moods.” Melody Stokes worked with Lotus Cars until she received the grant. Now she monitors her moods and looks for some relationship with lunar or solar cycles.
“It is very easy to make fun of people who try to think in ways that challenge existing ideas ? the history of science, art and technology is littered with examples. The most frequent criticism I get is, ‘What a waste of money’.”
Shocking. We think we will follow on Ms. Stokes’ ground-breaking research to study why people would view a grant used to stay home and see how you feel as “shocking.” Ms. Stokes makes a good point, though. It is very easy to make fun of people who think in different ways. We note, however, just because it is easy to make fun of someone doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. If you can’t make fun of people you don’t know for doing things you understand only on a surface-level basis, who can you make fun of?
Richard Wiseman, a psychologist at Hertfordshire University and a former professional magician, used part of his ?36,890 grant to travel to Las Vegas to see Jeff McBride, a magician, perform at the Sahara hotel and casino. He intends to bring Mr. McBride to London to lecture on psychology of magic.
Mr. Wiseman’s academic study produced something called a “wow box.” This device will actually allow science teachers “perform tricks in classrooms such as sticking skewers through balloons without bursting them.”
As if!
How can there be such a wondrous device as a “wow box”? How is it possible for any mortal push pins through a balloon — perhaps even an inflated balloon — without popping? We may be gullible and sure, there’s a reason why it’s 4:10 am and we’re still watching infomercials but that reason isn’t our gullibility; our willingness to accept every crazy…
Continue reading What Would You Do with Your Dream Time Grant
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