Let's consider that out of all the clubs its the NT "Researchers" that stereotypically represent the reason why universities exist. The Alpha-Gamma divide returns here though where Alpha's tend to innovate new streams of thought whilst Gamma's tend to rework old streams of thought.
Your work belongs to us
I completed my ~18,000 word dissertation back in 2003 studying the problem of how the subject of Physics has declined in student popularity for decades. I offered a "fresh" solution to this problem with my research into learning objects combined with my knowledge of multimedia applications. At the end of the day my work inspired a Gamma lecturer to start a new "game's lab" whilst my work remained archived in the depths of the university's library. I even got a monetary offer for my work though I was too naive at the time to accept and saw it as an exploit of my intellectual pioneering and hard work.
The point of University
If you learn something new and that allows you to earn more money in the long term then you have got a good return for your investment in knowledge. So far I'm yet to see the results. Four years out of graduation and still waiting for some "golden opportunity". Instead I seem to face companies that would rather employ idiots as they are easier to manage and keep at the bottom of the organisation. I can either fall into "the specialization trap" by getting exploited and subdued by a corporation or remain "free" from corporate tyranny by essentially sticking two-fingers up at them and continue to develop my world knowledge and become a self-made successful infopreneur. For an Alpha NT therefore you either get the respect you deserve through a company's graduate or training scheme or the corporate world sh*ts in your face despite how they ashamedly really need you!
What's more valuable: Alpha or Gamma "research"?
Alpha's may have a thousand and one ideas on how the world works or should work though its those shrewd Gamma's who just need to take a handful of those ideas, over-hype and profit from them.
I believe the Linux revolutionary operating system is an example of Alpha research since it follows a "free intellectual enterprise" philosophy that you can't essentially capitalise on an idea, not even a set of ideas, unless one "buys the product" or "donates" so to speak etc. This is why open-source software can never cost anything except your time, patience and effort to make it work for you which requires self-disciplined researching of your own.
On the other end we have "the devil we already know", I mean, Microsoft Windows. An example of Gamma research since it essentially acquired "free" ideas and turned them into mass-marketable products albeit with a vague understanding of those ideas though "just enough" to make it workable — sort of! Hence that popular oxymoron (contradiction of terms) known as "microsoft works".
Why doesn't "superior" products make more money than "inferior"?
Quite simply its because most people have "inferiority complexes" in society in reference to Napoleon Hill's classic Think and Grow Rich. For some bizarre reason "inferior" sells to the masses because most people are not geeks or understand the guts of what's wrong with it.
Linux on the other hand represents a "superior" operating system that only a niche market willingly uses and develops. To say you use it is like "coming out" and saying you're gay or something like although we accept it because of increased cultural tolerance, we don't really.
So how does an Alpha NT get paid their true value?
Pick a few ideas, think like a Gamma "researcher" by getting to a "good enough" stage of development and market them. We can deal with "perfection" later. The awful truth for an Alpha NT is that ideas are actually worthless especially when we generate an abundance of them. Its the final product that really matters. Only when we start seeing the $$$ flowing in from our value creations will we start to accrue value-based happiness for particular works.
And what about Gamma NT and their values?
I think Gamma's with their inherent adult-like attitudes become stubborn and closed-minded to new ideas. I know this to be true from a previous job where most attempts from me to suggest ways to improve the business were rejected. Gamma NT's thus have value in sponsoring Alpha's to push their businesses forward rather than shrewdly and covertly stealing their knowledge. Heck, at an interview recently I inspired the Gamma "boss" with an answer I gave that for all I know may have sown the seeds for change except I'll never find out. It just shows me how a job interview is yet something else to be exploited by Gamma's businesses without compensation. Of course it works the other way where as an Alpha "researcher" this entire website is the result of my dealings with the world i.e. something of value to be taken away from every situation and inference made by someone.
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