Daniel Pink in The Washington Post:
Hundreds of millions of people across the globe now earn their living less with their backs and more with their brains, relying on sharp reasoning and creative thinking. So how about seeing who’s best at that?
One idea: a competition such as the solar car challenges popular in many high school and college engineering programs. Squads of mixed-gender techies could receive a design brief months in advance and then arrive at the Games to pit their team’s creation against those of other nations on an official Olympic racetrack. It would be a competition that relies on teammates with smarts, skills and creativity — and some would need to be traditional athletes, too. Have you seen a pit crew at the Indy 500? I’d cheer on Team USA against Team China in a battle to create and race zero-emission automobiles. Besides, who wouldn’t want to see the Katie Ledecky of mechanical engineering smiling on a box of Wheaties? Or how about Olympic chess? Don’t laugh: The International Chess Federation has been pushing the idea for decades. In 1999, the IOC, whose byzantine rules and procedures determine which competitions are worthy of medals, relented and finally recognized chess as an official sport.
More here.
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