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Ask HN: Is the world suffering from shallow knowledge?
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Re: Ask HN: Is the world suffering from shallow knowledge?
#12Statistically, the opposite is happening: human knowledge is becoming deeper. The arc of human knowledge throughout history bends towards specialization: never before in human history have so many people been educated in so many different subdomains, each different in methodology, discipline, and scope. This is evinced by rising numbers of postgraduate degrees, increasing diversity in academic specialization, etc.
This poses its own problems:
* Academically: extreme specialization increases academic friction, as closely related but distinct subdomains struggle to consume each others' results
* Culturally: we're slowly losing a very important kind of shallow knowledge: the ability to repair small things, to converse intelligently about things outside one's area of expertise, to understand more generally that we can't derive every fact about every field from a small set of first principles.
So overall, I don't think so. I think we (including the youths) have more and deeper knowledge than ever before, at the cost of important, shallow, general knowledge.
Re: Ask HN: Is the world suffering from shallow knowledge?
#13I'm a little confused by this statement. Of course people want to obtain value very quickly; we live in a society where people are explicitly told their economic success and therefore basic survival is a zero-sum game in competition with other human beings (we are not told this is untrue unless we explicitly go out and discover this), where the opportunity to do basic things like be housed and have a family is dependent on economic achievement in a rapidly more unequal society.
Of course people are trying to obtain value as swiftly as possible. Every moment they aren't doing so means they are now trying to gain value in a situation where there is less value possible to gain. Additionally, our society glorifies "hustle culture" and "gig economy", so yeah, if we raise our children like this they will follow the values we teach them.
Re: Ask HN: Is the world suffering from shallow knowledge?
#14There are a few industries that are examples of some deep expertise. Airlines maintenance is by no means shallow, not in well ran airlines. All airspace industries I believe need deep expertise of what they are doing.
there are more industries like that, but yes, the average young person is not interested in gaining deep knowledge, they want value quick, at some point shallow knowledge will have less value and we as a collective will have to dig deeper... i hope
Re: Ask HN: Is the world suffering from shallow knowledge?
#15I think the problem is that the payoff for engaging deeply into a topic often isn’t better than the payoff for engaging in shallow learning of a wide variety of different topics.
For example, why would I want to spend time learning deeply how to write my own compiler, vs just spending that time to do tutorials for a couple different new frameworks?
Re: Ask HN: Is the world suffering from shallow knowledge?
#16Just standard "what is wrong the kids!" fare but HN-flavored.
There are plenty of shallow thinkers of all ages.
Re: Ask HN: Is the world suffering from shallow knowledge?
#17You may just not see those people, but they are there
Re: Ask HN: Is the world suffering from shallow knowledge?
#18People don't want to do their jobs, but that doesn't mean they're completely unmotivated. Many people with jobs they're indifferent to, also have hobbies they pursue relentlessly. If you want people to take a deeper interest in their jobs, give them more money. Way more money. Way, way more money. If you want people to pursue deeper understanding of their interests, give them more free time. To the extent that "shall…
> Way, way more money
Yeah, it seems like we could solve a lot of social problems if we had a lot more nurses, school teachers, mental health pros, librarians and psychologists, and if they all had deep knowledge and high motivation.
It would be worth paying triple their current salaries to attract more people with greater commitment and enthusiasm.
We would all be richer, and could probably pay for the extra compensation through reduced crime and violence, lower healthcare and public benefits, fewer prison inmates to guard and house.
Not to mention the dividends that would compound over decades with each new generation from this modest investment.
Re: Ask HN: Is the world suffering from shallow knowledge?
#19Just my own speculation, but yes. The lack of deep focus is endemic in the culture. There is too much cheap distraction. I’ve gone through my phase of thinking it will collapse. I think that’s possible, but a more realistic base case is a consolidation of key technologies and methods that can get the job done, although standard of living may reduce drastically.
Yes, some people need deep focus to get specialized tasks done ... brain-surgery, rocket-science. But that focus may lead them to miss some of the downsides of what they are creating, or awareness of better alternatives. I may be an expert widget-builder, so much so that I overlook the trend away from widgets.
Like everything else, cultures change. So does the meaning of 'standard-of-living', very culture-driven.
So there's also a need for 'bigger-picture' generalists. EG we need architects to oversee the bridge-builders, and planners to oversee the collective results of the architects, and philosophers to ask where in the hell we're headed. Sometimes the best solutions require painting outside our expert boxes.
Re: Ask HN: Is the world suffering from shallow knowledge?
#20I don't think most people want to pull their hair out for anything, period.
Yet, young people will pursue what fascinates them very deeply when given the chance.
A huge problem is that we don't teach things in such a way that it's interesting, at all, to the majority of people.
Another problem is, of course, the focus on the next quarter's profit.
But, overall, I agree, it's a problem. Just not one I'd pin on the kids.