<p>Who has heard of Tao? </p>
<p>Me me me!!! </p>
<p>Even worse, I recall that hundreds of people take Borcherds for Math 1A or 1B, and don’t realize he’s a Fields Medalist. </p>
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<p>I have a hard time imagining how this can change though. People aren’t paid because they’re intelligent - they’re paid because someone thinks they can make them money or provide immediate service. I hope you can correct me on this sakky, because it might be encouraging. </p>
<p>People aren’t paid just for being good at football - they’re paid for being good at football and in a position where they entertain tons of people. Roger Federer is a superstar tennis player, but he’s not paid for how good he is - he’s paid for the crowds he draws probably (sure, marginally he gets paid more for winning a tournament than being the runner up, maybe, but that’s probably not how most of his money accrues). And arguably, appearing in advertisements, etc, is a significant monetary addition, because again, someone thinks his doing so is going to make them money. </p>
<p>This is why many people whose skills are not anywhere as rare as those of a world class professor at Berkeley may still make more money - due to demand, or perceived demand, and because they play into the hands of people who simply have a lot of money to throw in their direction.</p>