Brilliant Gen Y Minds Going to Waste

Does it ever strike you that brilliant young people may be wasting their time creating yet another useless meme?

I just read a New Yorker piece on a 27-year old genius–Chicago-based, Internet-media entrepreneur, Emerson Spartz. He is a virologist. At least The New Yorker describes him that way.

So naturally I thought he was a PhD studying ways to deal with submicroscopic, parasitic particles of genetic material contained in a protein coat; ie, deadly viruses like Ebola. No suck luck. What he does instead is know how to make Internet things go viral.

He runs a series of near useless websites like OMG Facts, Memestache and Dose, and has raised millions from gullible VCs. 

Dose’s tagline is, “Your Daily Dose of Amazing” but I think it might be better expressed this way, “Catch a Dose”. Here are a few headlines on the site today–

33 Photos Of People Taken Seconds Before They Die. #10 Is From My Nightmares

20 Horrible Parents Who Shouldn’t Be Allowed Around Children…Not Even Their Own

This Mom Is Creating Some Of The Most Amazing Photoshoots For Her Newborn

13 Disney Images That Are About To Ruin Your Childhood

34 People Who Shop At Wal-Mart And Need To Get Their S*** Together

This is not how NASA put astronauts on the moon nor how the successors to that generation (once removed) will do anything of note. How do I know that?

In 100 years, people will still remember Neil Armstrong’s name.

@ profbruce @ quantum_entity