4 ms·

The more things you try and do, participate in, and understand, the shallower your knowledge will be of any one of those things.

akadeb 8y ago
is that a good thing or a bad thing?
reificator 8y ago
Note that a wider knowledge base can lead to a deeper understanding simply by having more possible connections between ideas. Our brains love connecting the dots.
knight17 8y ago
Generally this is true, but I think you are being dismissive by throwing this truism at his note taking attempt. The point of keeping a personal wiki, is tonote the things that has come to his attention and not to forget it and to come back to it later. Writing things down gives it a concrete form. Sometime I even force myself to write down things that I read and that is a reasonable cure for my binge reading procrastination. Even if you think it as just a glorified bookmark manager, it is more useful than your browser's bookmark manager . Many people who do not maintain a wiki may not realise that knowledge is incrementally gained and by having a wiki (or any place really) to note these things makes the process transparent and recallable.
camillomiller 8y ago
A vast superficial knowledge, along with a good memory, the ability of making meaningful connections between far away domains is a scarcely distributed skillset and a quite valuable one in today's Western world.
- dTal 8y ago
  I'd like to believe this were true. Personally I've found it very difficult to find paid work that allows me to exercise even a fraction of my general knowledge. My best results so far have been with underfunded startups who are trying to do too much with too little - they need people who can tackle a different challenge every week, because they can't afford to hire specialists. But it's not a spectacular way to build a career. Of course there are other kinds of value than monetary.
austhrow743 8y ago
However wordly wisdom can help you gain better models to process reality through. https://old.ycombinator.com/munger.html https://old.ycombinator.com/munger.html
PurpleRamen 8y ago
Yes, but on the other side there is a chance to gain knowledge on a higher level, because of comparing different things and finding the common patterns. But this only really works well when those things are similar enough to have common patterns. And from experience I think it's true that at some point one should move from being a jack of all trades to become a master of some things. But as big as the world has become today, the road to this has become even longer. I think today it's not so unusual anymore to search some years or longer for your calling to master.
kryptiskt 8y ago
Knowing a little about a lot of things allows you to generalize over them and learn new things faster. For example, if you have dabbled in C++, Java and Python you are better placed to learn a new language than if you have exclusively used one of them. Even if your knowledge of that goes way deeper.
quickthrower2 8y ago
Not true. So if you are a JS developer who knows React and Vue you could learn Angular (same kind of thing) or learn Haskell (different) or Systems programming (different), and I assert the latter two things would deepen your knowledge of JS more than learning the library because they allow you to see JS through another lens.

akadeb 8y ago

is that a good thing or a bad thing?

reificator 8y ago

Note that a wider knowledge base can lead to a deeper understanding simply by having more possible connections between ideas. Our brains love connecting the dots.

knight17 8y ago

Generally this is true, but I think you are being dismissive by throwing this truism at his note taking attempt. The point of keeping a personal wiki, is tonote the things that has come to his attention and not to forget it and to come back to it later. Writing things down gives it a concrete form. Sometime I even force myself to write down things that I read and that is a reasonable cure for my binge reading procrastination. Even if you think it as just a glorified bookmark manager, it is more useful than your browser's bookmark manager . Many people who do not maintain a wiki may not realise that knowledge is incrementally gained and by having a wiki (or any place really) to note these things makes the process transparent and recallable.

camillomiller 8y ago

A vast superficial knowledge, along with a good memory, the ability of making meaningful connections between far away domains is a scarcely distributed skillset and a quite valuable one in today's Western world.

dTal 8y ago
I'd like to believe this were true. Personally I've found it very difficult to find paid work that allows me to exercise even a fraction of my general knowledge. My best results so far have been with underfunded startups who are trying to do too much with too little - they need people who can tackle a different challenge every week, because they can't afford to hire specialists. But it's not a spectacular way to build a career. Of course there are other kinds of value than monetary.

austhrow743 8y ago

However wordly wisdom can help you gain better models to process reality through. https://old.ycombinator.com/munger.html https://old.ycombinator.com/munger.html

PurpleRamen 8y ago

Yes, but on the other side there is a chance to gain knowledge on a higher level, because of comparing different things and finding the common patterns. But this only really works well when those things are similar enough to have common patterns. And from experience I think it's true that at some point one should move from being a jack of all trades to become a master of some things. But as big as the world has become today, the road to this has become even longer. I think today it's not so unusual anymore to search some years or longer for your calling to master.

kryptiskt 8y ago

Knowing a little about a lot of things allows you to generalize over them and learn new things faster. For example, if you have dabbled in C++, Java and Python you are better placed to learn a new language than if you have exclusively used one of them. Even if your knowledge of that goes way deeper.

quickthrower2 8y ago

Not true. So if you are a JS developer who knows React and Vue you could learn Angular (same kind of thing) or learn Haskell (different) or Systems programming (different), and I assert the latter two things would deepen your knowledge of JS more than learning the library because they allow you to see JS through another lens.