the problem with greatness

if we take outstanding achievement as our inspiration, we often find mitigating factors that, for many, undermine its inspirational value. for one, there isn't much to like about people whose personal matters are made public. thus, there's always something to dislike about famous people. most of us have had an ugly moment or two, which is probably uncharacteristic and remains private. those privy to its knowledge are hopefully familiar enough with our innate goodness to know we aren't like that all the time. famous people don't really get the chance to prove to us that, deep down, they are good people. sometimes they aren't good people at all. maybe that's all the time. there's also the issue of cheating, deception, etc - in many cases, the very feats we admire are called into question as we discover that people weren't abiding by the explicit rules of their craft or the implicit standards we set up for them. it's not just who we make out to be heroes either - the microscope we hold them under is going to turn out bad things in probably anyone. that's why we need robot athletes and politicians. we can set the rules they'll abide by, and judge their achievements accordingly. we can even take pride in the greatness of those who built these robotocrats. because if greatness is what we value, then humanity might just be about doing something humans can't do.