Leonardo Da Vinci is often called a Renaissance Man (or Polymath). This means he's someone who has interests and skills in many very different areas of knowledge. Nowadays, there is so much information available on the internet that we could literally read for our entire lives and not read the same thing twice. Do you think people should be 'pretty good' at a wide variety of things, or should we specialize and become an 'expert' in one thing? Read this quote from Robert Heinlein and see if you agree (post a response on your blog):
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.
Also, check out this Youtube clip and watch a modern-day Renaissance Man in action (warning: he's pretty strange!):
What are the benefits to trying to learn as much as you can about as many topics as you can? What, if any, are the drawbacks?
No comments:
Post a Comment