Why doesn't society hold inventors in the same light as artists?
 

So this is a question that has been bugging since a recent thread on PPOT...

I've developed technology over the past 20 years that has created hundreds of well paying jobs and generated hundreds of millions in revenue. My inventions range from alternative energy conversion devices to simple oil patch tools and the companies I have worked for hold the patents...

Given that a few of my inventions have grossed several hundred million dollars in revenue, about the same value as the most famous paintings, why am I not famous like Pablo Picasso or Vincent Van Gogh?

Clearly I have created something new (patents), and unlike the famous artists what I have created has resulted in a number of high paying jobs in Canada, the US, Russia, Norway, Turkey, and other countries with oil.

I don't get it. Commercialization of a concept involves as much blood, sweat and tears as painting a picture (if not more)...

Fellow technology developers, chime in.

Paintings "speak" to some people at a visceral level. You can't apply logic to the value that is placed on many tasks, jobs, endeavors, etc., emotions will trump intellect almost all of the time.

Inventors are hands on, tear it apart/put it back together type of people, and are driven by what makes things work, rather engineer-like. They see the world as black, and white/yes and no, and are rather rigid in some of their pursuits, and beliefs.

Artists see all colors of the rainbow, couldn't reassemble thier pen if it came apart. They live in a world of magenta, and cyan/maybe and possibly, and are rather loose in all thier endeavors

So in summary, The conservative man loves an inventer, and yearns to live a quiet life, following the rules.

The liberal man loves his artists, and how they push the envelope, and yells loudly about them.

Let me get this straight, you want to be poor and unappreciated in your life, but famous after you are dead?

I think you had it right the first time, take the money and run, fame is for suckers.

Picasso was perhaps an exception to the rule, but even that was post age 25.
http://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/how-much-does/happens-estate-valued-billion-dollars-dont-leave-will-children-pablo-picasso-found-hard-way/

happy lil clouds, or Sham-Wow

I admire inventors a great deal MORE than artists.

If you want to trade your hundreds of millions of dollars for the off chance that someone will recognize you in a Target store, I'm sure there's plenty of people who will trade with you.

The hundreds of millions belong to my employer... I only got a small piece of the pie... more like a few crumbs.

You are not dead yet, so there is that. They didn't become household names during their lifetimes.
You didn't sign every copy of every one of your inventions, so people who use and enjoy them wouldn't know who to thank.

I understand your basic question, it doesn't seem fair.

Back in the 80s I designed the parking brake cable bracket for the new front wheel drive Camaro. I didn't even get a pat on the head.

I cannot even start to fathom the artist brain and the "modern art lovers" way of thinking.

Like porn, art is impossible to define. The old "you know it when you see it" is about all most can say.

I have yet to see one Picasso that I would hang in my house. I do really like Claude Monet's work and we have a high quality reproduction of his paintings on the wall at our house.

I do really like inventions. ;)

In my mind air conditioning and antibiotics are some of the greats inventions of all time after taming fire and making the wheel.

I think you aren't giving yourself enough credit -

I paint in pastels as a hobby. As good as I think I am, there are better artists. Most artists today cannot support themselves on their art alone. They supplement their income by teaching, having second/real jobs or teach art workshops. If you look at the greats, they were sponsored by the wealthy - they had no money.

The truly greats - became famous after they died.

I'm an engineer by profession and most artists and engineers don't understand me. I will tell you, art made me a better engineer - try explaining that to an artist or engineer.

Inventions are art

I work in the oilfield as well and have several patents. These were developed on time the company fairly compensated me for, using their labs facilities and resources. Do you personally pay them back for failed investigations?

In my experience those people who invent truly revolutionary / disruptive technologies within a company usually end up wealthy by promotion and retention incentives

Early musical school study leads to better mathematicians.
(As studies have shown.)

Thinking leads to more thinking.

"Why is that possible" you might ask?
It's because we humans are still in our infancy, and we still don't understand jack s**t.

Inventors get paid at the time. Artists only get paid when they die.

I'm late to this thread but I think the OP is deserving of any accolade any artist may receive simply by virtue of the nature of his question.

Problem is the value of art is indifineable in the context of a means of exchange.

That's gold right there.

Mr. Steven Jobs. The Huxster.

Form follows function.
Electricity follows the easiest path.
Life imitates art.
Standing on the shoulders of giants.

Because everything is relative.
At a few hundred million, you are not a luminary in your respective field.
It's chump change.

Only the outliers are immortalized.

So, ask the same question about Gates, Bezos, Page/Brin, Jobs, Woz, or Zuck?
Yes, they are held in the same light as the dead artist.

This.

Not to mention, if you're inventing for a company, odds are, you're integrating something into some other part. Its not just one person inventing that Camaro, its a team.

The optics I design are possible because of the light source's designed by some one else, that are possible by the cooling technology designed by some one else, and possible by power supply technology designed by someone else.

Another factor, is saturation, the rate of inventions is past humans even being aware of them. The famous artists of the past, where quite rare and new.

Like sugarwood said - your inventions, while useful and profitable for someone, don't put you remotely in the same league as the famous artists you mention. You're more like the commercial artist, graphic designer, photographer who makes a living creating art that it's used to sell a production or a publication. Those artists are as anonymous as you are. But you've been better paid.