The Jasons
I recently visited some friends in Oregon and had to stop at the famous Powell’s Bookstore in Portland. While I was there, I came across this book called “The Jasons: The Secret History of Science’s Postwar Elite” by Ann Finkbeiner and, of course, had to pick it up and buy it just on the name alone.
It turns out to be a book that’s right up my alley. The Jasons are an independent group of scientists who advise the U.S. government on science and technology matters at the highest level.
The Jasons, who got their name in reference to a character from Greek Mythology, meet typically during the summer months and have helped solve some of the country’s most pressing military and scientific problems.
The group formed in the post Manhattan Project days and has continued ever since. Mostly, it appears from my early reading in the book, because these scientists knew such thinks like the atomic bomb needed to be built, but they also understood the human ramifications and the moral dilemma that arise from such a weapon.
The Jasons are not paid by politicians or the military. But both groups seem smart enough to listen to them because they know their stuff.
Most of their work is classified. They’ve worked on projects ranging from missile defense to climate change. They do it because they love their country, more than anything. You can read more on the book from the New York Times.
The reason I bring this book up in this forum is because I think it’s time that the media industry look beyond itself to help create ‘The Medici Effect‘ and by that I mean the “the explosion of remarkable ideas at the intersection of different fields, cultures and industries.”
It appears that those of us inside the media industry made need some outside help. So how about encouraging the formation of a group that can advise the media industry? I’m not talking about coming up with a cookie-cutter approach that all news organizations can replicate. We’re already stuck waiting for that, it seems.
Rather how about encouraging some of the smartest and brightest people in our country who love news and information and how people use it to live and engage and get them to meet regularly to advise the industry on areas that we determine need the most attention.
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