<div dir="ltr">When you ask people to be well rounded, aren't you assuming that you know the convex hull of the knowledge they need?<div><br></div><div>But as Hamming pointed out in Learning to Learn (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2FF649D0C4407B30">https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2FF649D0C4407B30</a>), 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.</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>-- rec --</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Mar 6, 2019 at 4:47 PM Steven A Smith <<a href="mailto:sasmyth@swcp.com">sasmyth@swcp.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<p>Marcus -</p>
<p>Marcus -</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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?</p>
<p>- Steve<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<div class="gmail-m_8665704168316899739moz-cite-prefix">On 3/6/19 2:29 PM, Marcus Daniels
wrote:<br>
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<blockquote type="cite">
<div class="gmail-m_8665704168316899739WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12pt"><span style="color:black;background:white">Steve writes:<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12pt"><span style="color:black;background:white">“Reminds me of the
(in)famous Robert Heinlein quote so (s?)favored by
Libertarians and other strong Individualists: </span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="color:black;background:white">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.</span></i><i><span style="background:white"><u></u><u></u></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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?<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Marcus<u></u><u></u></p>
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