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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>Well, perhaps Roger. But isn’t also the case that each of those specialists is basing his work on assumptions outside his specialty that other specialists know to be false? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>See my article for the argument, admittedly in one case, only. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>Nick <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>Nicholas S. Thompson<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'>Clark University<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'><a href="http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/"><span style='color:#0563C1'>http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> Friam [mailto:friam-bounces@redfish.com] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Roger Critchlow<br><b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, March 06, 2019 4:00 PM<br><b>To:</b> The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam@redfish.com><br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [FRIAM] are we how we behave?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>When you ask people to be well rounded, aren't you assuming that you know the convex hull of the knowledge they need?<o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>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.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>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.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>-- rec --<o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal>On Wed, Mar 6, 2019 at 4:47 PM Steven A Smith <<a href="mailto:sasmyth@swcp.com">sasmyth@swcp.com</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p></div><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 6.0pt;margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0in'><div><p>Marcus -<o:p></o:p></p><p>Marcus -<o:p></o:p></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.<o:p></o:p></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.<o:p></o:p></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?<o:p></o:p></p><p>- Steve<o:p></o:p></p><p><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>On 3/6/19 2:29 PM, Marcus Daniels wrote:<o:p></o:p></p></div><blockquote style='margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt'><div><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='color:black;background:white'>Steve writes:</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;margin-bottom:12.0pt'><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><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><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><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>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?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Marcus<o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><pre>============================================================<o:p></o:p></pre><pre>FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv<o:p></o:p></pre><pre>Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College<o:p></o:p></pre><pre>to unsubscribe <a href="http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com" target="_blank">http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com</a><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>archives back to 2003: <a href="http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/" target="_blank">http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/</a><o:p></o:p></pre><pre>FRIAM-COMIC <a href="http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/</a> by Dr. Strangelove<o:p></o:p></pre></blockquote></div><p class=MsoNormal>============================================================<br>FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv<br>Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College<br>to unsubscribe <a href="http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com" target="_blank">http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com</a><br>archives back to 2003: <a href="http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/" target="_blank">http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/</a><br>FRIAM-COMIC <a href="http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/</a> by Dr. Strangelove<o:p></o:p></p></blockquote></div></div></body></html>