Beware the Casual Polymath
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Beware the Casual Polymath
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Re: Beware the Casual Polymath
#2This seems much less about being casual or being a polymath and more about those who overestimate the value of their own input
I’m leaving this comment only because I most often do not overestimate the value of my input and therefor don’t leave comments, but this seems the perfect place to deviate
Re: Beware the Casual Polymath
#3The article is interesting, and probably right -- albeit maybe slightly unfair to da Vinci -- but I don't really buy this premise:
> We live in times of great disaggregation, and yet, seem to learn increasingly from generalists.
Most teaching is done by non-generalists -- be it in schools, on TV, in documentaries, in courtrooms, or basically anywhere of any import. There's quite a bit of irony in the author quoting Wikipedia though. On first reading, I thought that was some sort of punch-line.
> Having a variety of interests is no more a sign of generalized intelligence than being able to walk and chew gum.
This is a reductive oversimplification, and I really wish the author were more fair. There's something pretty incredible about someone contributing to multiple fields of study. It's rare, but it happens. The fact that some Twitter personality has surface knowledge about X and Y doesn't imply that there aren't people out there with actual deep knowledge about both X and Y.
Re: Beware the Casual Polymath
#4But, it seems like there are more polymaths in the past than now - more people who were extremely smart, even if the general intelligence of people nowadays has increased.
I think being a "casual" polymath is the important part: like the article mentions, you'd need a deep understanding of a subject to actually have it's interdisciplinary benefits. I think with the Internet today, it's easy to see so many interesting hobbies and topics, which takes time and effort away from just pursuing one or a few things really in depth.
Re: Beware the Casual Polymath
#5In life everyone is pushed to have an opinion on everything. On the internet any casual comment about anything is up for the attack “oh so now you claim to be an expert on X do you, well let me put you in your place...”.
> “The Twitter account you followed to understand politics now seems more focused on their mindfulness practice.”
What a "hellscape" it is when you’re reminded that other people are people and not service-providing objects that exist for your one-sided extraction of value. Just because you pigeonhole someone as “the politics person” doesn’t mean they do that to themselves, and just because they tweet about mindfulness doesn’t mean any claim to being a polymath, and just because you want to "learn about politics" doesn't oblige someone to "know their place" in your life and stick to it.
I'm sure there's something more interesting and deeper to be brought up about how it fundamentally doesn't seem to matter if you know a lot or a little, outside the lense of maximising capitalist money acquisition, but it's too hard to get past the rest of it and get to it.
Re: Beware the Casual Polymath
#6I think the author/post neglects the most important reason for valuing generalists and learning from them. (Hyper)specialists have a hard time understanding context outside their narrow domains, and filtering the relevance of their own specialization to a situation. Having access to a highly sophisticated hammer, everything looks like a nail through their lens. Consequently, there have a hard time communicating with those not well-versed in their field. Eg, while being taught in grad school by a world renowned expert, I realized that he’d been teaching the subject longer than any of the students had been alive!
Generalists are typically far better at motivating the relevance of a problem/situation and filtering out the important details from the unimportant. That clarity serves as a great platform on which to then incorporate the inputs of specialists from different fields relevant to the situation.
Of course, none of this is meant to defend or elevate people participation in random internet discussions, or generating “content marketing”, to “generalists”.
Re: Beware the Casual Polymath
#7One wonders if the author is a sociologist of knowledge or if they are themselves engaged in dilettantism.
Re: Beware the Casual Polymath
#8> The incentive is to ramp up variance, make bold claims in a variety of areas, and hope you’re right some of the time.
Well said.
However, is a casual polymath any different than a blowhard with a bit of knowledge or a poser? It seems to me a true polymath, casual or otherwise, would value knowledge enough he would be careful not to make claims he was unsure of.
Re: Beware the Casual Polymath
#9In life everyone is pushed to have an opinion on everything. On the internet any casual comment about anything is up for the attack “oh so now you claim to be an expert on X do you, well let me put you in your place...”. > “ The Twitter account you followed to understand politics now seems more focused on their mindfulness practice. ” What a "hellscape" it is when you’re reminded that other people are people and not…
That's a good point. If you follow a twitter account dedicated to political news and they start talking about meditation, thats different than following a person who likes to talk politics and dives into other subjects
Re: Beware the Casual Polymath
#10In life everyone is pushed to have an opinion on everything. On the internet any casual comment about anything is up for the attack “oh so now you claim to be an expert on X do you, well let me put you in your place...”. > “ The Twitter account you followed to understand politics now seems more focused on their mindfulness practice. ” What a "hellscape" it is when you’re reminded that other people are people and not…
You can just say "no, I don't have enough information to form an opinion on the matter" and leave it at that. Or maybe "I'm not convinced…" There's people who might attack you as ignoring a major issue, or being a lame duck, but you can remind them that it's certainly better than rushing into an opinion and choosing something you don't believe in.