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To me the real tension seems to be between individual interests and societal pressure. I suspect most people, if left completely free, would end up undertaking

To me the real tension seems to be between individual interests and societal pressure. I suspect most people, if left completely free, would end up undertaking quite a wide range of endeavors and might not even end up specializing at all. There is however great societal pressure to find a niche (ideally as narrow as possible) and occupy it exclusively. That's what's "best for the economy", however stifling for individual human development. This is not to say that there aren't people out there more than happy to have a deep specialization. That's perfectly fine as long as it's done as a free individual choice and not as some parental/scholastic imposition.

rolltiide 7y ago
This is something that has been attractive about the blockchain space. The more generalized you become the more you get paid. Offer trusted escrow because multisig is too complicated? Win. Compiled a slightly better mining software? Win. Learned how to host and run an exchange? Win. Learned how to launch an irrelevant, redudant new blockchain? Win. and the list goes on and on and on Absolutely nobody is going to say "hmmmm, it looks like you've been doing trusted escrow for years, we need someone that knows React JS and can hit the ground running" (Only traders and holders lose money in the blockchain space bear markets. A lot of people earn, and earn quite a substantial amount regardless of exchange rates.)
djrobstep 7y ago
I've observed more of the opposite pressure - people without commercial pressures want to focus on their particular interests, but instead are constantly pressured to generalize and monetize.
- leto_ii 7y ago
  Interesting. Could you give a bit more details?
  - Viliam1234 7y ago
    As a software developer I would love to focus on understanding technology thoroughly. Actually, just a small subset of "technology", because there are so many tools that will be gone in five years anyway. I would rather focus on the, uhm, less ephemeral aspects of technology. However, the pressure at workplace is exactly in the opposite direction. First, one should become a "full stack developer", because why hire two or three experts when we can have one person do everything. Then one needs to become a "dev ops", so that we don't have to hire a system administrator either. Afterwards, one is pushed to also do some management, customer support, etc. I suppose the ultimate dream is a company consisting of only two kinds of people: the boss, and the infinitely replaceable all-knowing employees. Generalists are popular, because you can always fire one and distribute his former workload among the remaining ones.

rolltiide 7y ago

This is something that has been attractive about the blockchain space. The more generalized you become the more you get paid. Offer trusted escrow because multisig is too complicated? Win. Compiled a slightly better mining software? Win. Learned how to host and run an exchange? Win. Learned how to launch an irrelevant, redudant new blockchain? Win. and the list goes on and on and on Absolutely nobody is going to say "hmmmm, it looks like you've been doing trusted escrow for years, we need someone that knows React JS and can hit the ground running" (Only traders and holders lose money in the blockchain space bear markets. A lot of people earn, and earn quite a substantial amount regardless of exchange rates.)

djrobstep 7y ago

I've observed more of the opposite pressure - people without commercial pressures want to focus on their particular interests, but instead are constantly pressured to generalize and monetize.

leto_ii 7y ago
Interesting. Could you give a bit more details?
- Viliam1234 7y ago
  As a software developer I would love to focus on understanding technology thoroughly. Actually, just a small subset of "technology", because there are so many tools that will be gone in five years anyway. I would rather focus on the, uhm, less ephemeral aspects of technology. However, the pressure at workplace is exactly in the opposite direction. First, one should become a "full stack developer", because why hire two or three experts when we can have one person do everything. Then one needs to become a "dev ops", so that we don't have to hire a system administrator either. Afterwards, one is pushed to also do some management, customer support, etc. I suppose the ultimate dream is a company consisting of only two kinds of people: the boss, and the infinitely replaceable all-knowing employees. Generalists are popular, because you can always fire one and distribute his former workload among the remaining ones.