tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post6766698728302904328..comments2024-02-12T23:25:09.583-08:00Comments on Overweening Generalist: A Non-Definition of "Generalist"michaelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13526042582094867513noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-32618145023269831612016-10-02T15:47:57.537-07:002016-10-02T15:47:57.537-07:00Eric-
I wrote this so long ago, that, re-reading i...Eric-<br />I wrote this so long ago, that, re-reading it now, it seemed like I was reading someone else. This guy and I agree on a just about everything here, though. <br /><br />One of the odd things - perhaps the oddest - about trying to stay true to the "generalist" stance: the more I read and think, the more ignorant I feel. Because the scope of "knowledge" in the broadest sense of the woid, is overwhelms the overweening.<br /><br />The main reason the OG guy doesn't write as much as he used to: too engaged with reading!michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13526042582094867513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-5343512707911154242016-10-01T11:29:20.870-07:002016-10-01T11:29:20.870-07:00One might see you as a modern major generalist. In...One might see you as a modern major generalist. Interesting piece. I do not have a Ph.D, and I regret not getting one decades ago. I struggle with my full time job and I putter about as a generalist.Eric Wagnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04312033917401203598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-3592937012718439222011-05-22T00:02:48.609-07:002011-05-22T00:02:48.609-07:00Meaty quotes! In the sense in which I will mean &q...Meaty quotes! In the sense in which I will mean "Generalist" I'm much closer to Taleb, who, in my view nails the Cult of Expertise as well as anyone I've ever read. And he does it with such a wonderful style! <br /><br />If we just look at Wiki or a similar source, there will be something on Generalist species in Biology (not our topic here); there will be something on medical practitioners: do they specialize or generalize (the latter often isomorphic to the family doctor). But there will be something on a person who is "knowledgeable" or competent in several fields. I prefer Braudel's "promiscuity" (in an above post) towards fields of knowledge. I'm hoping other Generalists will jump in here, or in other spaces. It seems that the scope of knowledge by 2011 is so wide that two virtuoso Generalists can get together and not know much about what each is talking about, BUT: being a Generalist means being open to that possibility and eager to listen, ask questions and learn. All seems contingent, forever. And Generalists will be sophisticated epistemologists, so even when confronted with another person who has a lot to say about something new TO THEM, s/he will still know how to begin gaining a purchase on new knowledge. I could go on, but I'd rather someone else did...michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13526042582094867513noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1178284085080580526.post-4026185278937770022011-05-15T19:16:59.123-07:002011-05-15T19:16:59.123-07:00On the clarification of the term "generalist&...On the clarification of the term "generalist" it seems, to me, that in "the province of Extremistan" (Nassim Taleb's term) "generalists" can contribute to de-toxification of knowledge as opposed to specialists/experts who can swim within their pond of "the toxicity of knowledge" (Taleb again) without ever being aware of it and feel 'comfortably numb'.<br /> <br />I also think that for some the term "generalist" could be tricky as it derives from the same root as "generalization" and some de-generalization might be needed. As Alexander Chase says in his "Perspectives": All generalizations are false, including this one." Followed by Epictetus's "Discourses" : "The cause of all human evils is the not being able to apply general principles to special cases." Or: "Any general statement is like a checque drawn on a bank. Its value depends on what is there to meet it." by Ezra Pound, "The ABC of Reading".<br /> <br />ARWARW23https://www.blogger.com/profile/12640332269499504745noreply@blogger.com