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The Polymath Playbook

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Re: The Polymath Playbook

#31

Post by kiba »

woofie11 wrote: post #7
thinkingkong wrote: post #3

So under this definition I too am a polymath but so are most of my colleagues. Some of the smartest engineers Ive ever met have wildly different hobbies outside of engineering or software. Boating. Baking. Triathlons. Music. But the most successful people do one thing, 100% in an all consuming way before flipping into another. Theyre the best bakers. Have sailed the furhest distances, written the best songs, and post…

This is the way to do it. Done well, a 5-year deep dive can make you a world-class expert in most things. Do that, and then move onto the next thing, bringing that skillset along. It goes faster every time too. It turns out there are lots of overlaps. Linear algebra and differential equations are (roughly) the same in electronic engineering, quantum mechanics, or mechanical engineering, and where they're not is where…

The people who struggle are the ones who go shallow. A half-dozen HN articles a day.

It's not really a half dozen HN articles a day. It's the shallow absorption of HN articles that's only 5 or 10 minutes top per article.

And then you only remembered 10% top of the article you absorbed.

Whereas you select and absorb two HN article for a week, at twenty minutes each article per day, you'll retain more and makes connections you otherwise wouldn't see.

Re: The Polymath Playbook

#32

Post by MaxBarraclough »

trentnix wrote: post #5

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, analyse a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. — Robert Heinlein, Ti…

> Specialization is for insects.

Was going strong right up until this.

Figured he was going for jack of all trades, master of one. Attacking specialization outright is just silly.

Re: The Polymath Playbook

#33

Post by Icathian »

em-bee wrote: post #16
gordon_freeman wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 if you remove the "butcher a hog" part from above!

only if you are vegetarian, otherwise you should be aware how the meat arrived on your table.

Strongly agree. I've been vegetarian for years, the only exception I'll make is if I go hunting with my family. If you aren't willing to kill it and clean it yourself, at least once in a while, you should probably stick to salad.

Re: The Polymath Playbook

#34

Post by juped »

geocrasher wrote: post #11

There's a site called https://puttylike.com/ that calls it a "multipotentialite" and in the gal's Ted talk she makes us out to be victims. That, I don't like- but I do like the premise of most of what she's saying otherwise. Being a generalist only means you get to explore whatever's fancy today, and because you've defined yourself as eternally undefined, nobody generally cares.

It's easy to feel like a victim when you learn really quickly, are very good at a wide variety of different areas, and languish in poverty and debt because the only way to get non-marginal employment is 10 straight years of the exact same specific thing that doesn't even have 2 years of learning to be wrung from it.

Re: The Polymath Playbook

#36

Post by croissants »

Icathian wrote: post #33
em-bee wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

only if you are vegetarian, otherwise you should be aware how the meat arrived on your table.

Strongly agree. I've been vegetarian for years, the only exception I'll make is if I go hunting with my family. If you aren't willing to kill it and clean it yourself, at least once in a while, you should probably stick to salad.

> If you aren't willing to kill it and clean it yourself, at least once in a while, you should probably stick to salad.

Why? Is the idea that meat has a unique ethical component that a consumer must grapple with up close by killing and butchering?

There seem to be many items we consume that have complicated and unethical production processes, but nobody goes around telling people they need to make their own cell phone or t shirt at least once in a while.

Re: The Polymath Playbook

#37

Post by croissants »

> When I first began to study polymaths, I was excited to see a template for a life I didn’t know I was living. But when I started to embrace the polymath identity, my inner critics appeared. I wondered whether I’m even qualified to write about polymaths, let alone call myself one.

Then why not just go on cultivating diverse interests -- which is really what this blog post is about, and which seems like a fine idea -- and sidestep all of this "polymath" business? Why make it harder by picking the grandest label you can find and then worrying about whether you qualify?

Re: The Polymath Playbook

#38

Post by nomadtwin »

Whole article resonates so thank you for putting that up. The word POLYMATH is a little clunky for non-native speakers. If you were to ask people in the streets the word GENERALIST is probably easier to understand. I experienced that with a lot of words that tend to describe a certain type/trend/box. I'm not advocating against the word just trying to raise awareness why there's people out there that would rather simply break it down to "Generalist" and Polymath will most likely be a niche word on a global scale.

Re: The Polymath Playbook

#39

Post by cameronbrown »

croissants wrote: post #36
Icathian wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strongly agree. I've been vegetarian for years, the only exception I'll make is if I go hunting with my family. If you aren't willing to kill it and clean it yourself, at least once in a while, you should probably stick to salad.

> If you aren't willing to kill it and clean it yourself, at least once in a while, you should probably stick to salad. Why? Is the idea that meat has a unique ethical component that a consumer must grapple with up close by killing and butchering? There seem to be many items we consume that have complicated and unethical production processes, but nobody goes around telling people they need to make their own cell phon…

I'll bite: There's something 'humane' about hunting an animal, rather than it being in captivity birth to plate. T-shirts and mobile phones were never alive so this doesn't strictly apply, but I think everyone could tinker with a Raspberry Pi and sewing at least once. It keeps us grounded with reality.

Re: The Polymath Playbook

#40

Post by tomrod »

nomadtwin wrote: post #38

Whole article resonates so thank you for putting that up. The word POLYMATH is a little clunky for non-native speakers. If you were to ask people in the streets the word GENERALIST is probably easier to understand. I experienced that with a lot of words that tend to describe a certain type/trend/box. I'm not advocating against the word just trying to raise awareness why there's people out there that would rather simp…

A generalist will include both polymaths and those that have mediocre skillsets. Polymath is a sufficiently distinct concept to have its own term.
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