Award winning A few years ago, I was looking at houses in the Boston area. The agent said: Don't go to L town. There is a street over there where four Nobel laureates live. Their children have been working on projects with their parents since childhood. How can our children get involved with them? I said, 'It's okay, I'm a philosopher.'. The other party didn't know how to answer the conversation, then laughed heartily to ease the awkwardness. I said it's true, and I laughed heartily. Later, because the houses in L town were old and too dilapidated, and the new ones were too ugly, the quality of life was really poor, and the school was filled with rainbow flags, so we avoided that relatively poor town. Another year, near Stanford, the railway was more expensive to the north and cheaper to the south. The CEOs of companies such as Apple, Google, and Meta live in the north, and the market is very tight. But there are more houses in the south, with prices only about two-thirds, or even half. Now it's another agent recommending a house on the south side, saying that the neighbors are all Stanford professors and researchers from the medical school. Every day when they go out for a walk, they encounter Nobel laureates, and the price is also cheap. I said: It seems that Stanford professors or Nobel Prize holders are not good jobs, otherwise I wouldn't have lived in a relatively poor area. If it were me, I would have resigned long ago. I don't look up or down with these people every day, I'm afraid I'll become poor too. This agent is stuck, probably because the pre prepared language is no longer needed. In fact, the Nobel Prize prize money, converted into US dollars and after deducting federal and state taxes, amounts to 640000 US dollars, which is only 5 BTC from a year ago. Can I buy a garage? Can't buy it. For example, the recently popular Fields Medal in mathematics has a prize money of 15000 Canadian dollars, which is equivalent to US dollars, plus taxes and fees, resulting in a total of 6000-7500 US dollars. Nowadays, it costs $20000 to replace our air conditioner here. Can this award be used to replace the air conditioning in the house? No. Winning three consecutive awards is required to replace an air conditioner. If the house has more than one air conditioner, it will have to win six or nine consecutive awards. Of course, some people may say: they have made contributions to human society! I would like to say that it is still uncertain whether Nobel himself, who invented explosives, brought more contributions to humanity or more deaths. There are some Nobel Prize in Literature works that are just a matter of reading a few books, and they have not made a single contribution to human society. Moreover, many people who have made contributions to humanity have not won the Nobel Prize. For example, Elon Musk, who established Tesla, promoted autonomous driving, and reduced a large number of traffic injuries, did not receive the Nobel Prize. Even if humans were to land on Mars, they would probably not win the Nobel Prize. Winning usually represents being recognized by a certain award team. Do people like Elon Musk need to be recognized by the judges of a certain organization? With that award, one is confident; without that award, one is insecure? I don't think people who truly know their own value will become complacent just because they are recognized by others. Shakyamuni, Confucius, Jesus, and Nietzsche have all made contributions to human society, but have not received any awards. Who can award them? So, I tell children not to be proud or insecure about titles, not to be proud or insecure about medals. Especially winning awards is favored by society, and being proud, happy, and pleased because of being favored is the work of the lower class. Take care of yourself and your family first, and if you have spare energy, use your natural talents to make some contributions to society. Best of all, be someone who no one can award you. https://www. (mrtia.com)/zh-Hans/essays/2026-07-24-b1df5385/ 2026.07.24