[FRIAM] are we how we behave?

[Frank Wimberly]

Roger,

Almost every time I ask a lawyer a question he refers me to someone who is
a specialist.  Same with doctors.

Frank

On Wed, Mar 6, 2019 at 4:00 PM Roger Critchlow <rec at elf.org> wrote:

> When you ask people to be well rounded, aren't you assuming that you know
> the convex hull of the knowledge they need?
>
> But as Hamming pointed out in Learning to Learn (
> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2FF649D0C4407B30), they knew in
> the 50's that most of the scientists who had ever lived were alive right
> then, that the scientific literature was growing exponentially, and that no
> one would ever review it all.  And those things have been true in every
> decade since then.
>
> So who's got their finger on the pulse of knowledge?  We've all been
> becoming absolutely and relatively more ignorant all through our lives.
> Experts rule over ever shrinking domains.  Laboratories are organized gangs
> of specialists competing to recast problems into nails for their hammers.
> Narrow specialists dominate because it's the only safe thing to profess.
> Spread out and some specialist will rip you a new one.
>
> -- rec --
>
> On Wed, Mar 6, 2019 at 4:47 PM Steven A Smith <sasmyth at swcp.com> wrote:
>
>> Marcus -
>>
>> Marcus -
>>
>> My quote of Heinlein the renowned "Human Chauvanist" was somewhat
>> tongue-in-cheek.   I applaud the general spirit of the polymath, always
>> seeking, never-say-die he implies here, but as you point out, there is no
>> clear boundary around how much one can learn.
>>
>> And in the spirit of your last response characterizing polyculture over
>> monoculture somewhat as the "foam" Glen referenced earlier, I cannot but
>> agree with you.
>>
>> The richness obtained and experienced by being *an individual* in the
>> context of a (multi?)culture is not only that everyone else "has so much to
>> teach you" but also that "there is so much you can defer to others".  This
>> doesn't have to be an either-or between depth/breadth, but maybe more of an
>> appreciation for being (more) able to choose a subset of what breadth/depth
>> one will seek to explore/cover?
>>
>> - Steve
>>
>>
>> On 3/6/19 2:29 PM, Marcus Daniels wrote:
>>
>> Steve writes:
>>
>> “Reminds me of the (in)famous Robert Heinlein quote so (s?)favored by
>> Libertarians and other strong Individualists:
>>
>> *A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion,
>> butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance
>> accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give
>> orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch
>> manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die
>> gallantly. Specialization is for insects.*
>>
>>
>>
>> Life has finite length and the rate of learning is finite.   Individuals
>> aren’t going to learn how to do everything.   It isn’t even helpful to
>> write down a list of `everything’ and say go learn that.  Because it just
>> insults the vastness of everything, and assumes that collectively we see
>> even a little of it.    Why not throw “become a world class violinist” or
>> “become the top cited researcher in string theory” or “break the two hour
>> barrier on the marathon” into the mix too?
>>
>>
>>
>> Marcus
>>
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> ============================================================
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> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
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>


-- 
Frank Wimberly
140 Calle Ojo Feliz
Santa Fe, NM 87505
505 670-9918
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