<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
</head>
<body text="#000000" 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="moz-cite-prefix">On 3/6/19 2:29 PM, Marcus Daniels
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:92DB0646-C17E-4348-8DB0-5DD52DCE73CF@snoutfarm.com">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered
medium)">
<style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#0563C1;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:#954F72;
text-decoration:underline;}
p.msonormal0, li.msonormal0, div.msonormal0
{mso-style-name:msonormal;
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
span.EmailStyle18
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
color:windowtext;}
span.apple-converted-space
{mso-style-name:apple-converted-space;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-size:10.0pt;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style>
<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span
style="color:black;background:white">Steve writes:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="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"><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"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></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?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Marcus<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<br>
<fieldset class="mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset>
<pre class="moz-quote-pre" wrap="">============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
to unsubscribe <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com">http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com</a>
archives back to 2003: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/">http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/</a>
FRIAM-COMIC <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/">http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/</a> by Dr. Strangelove
</pre>
</blockquote>
</body>
</html>