Here's one I wrote up previously: A human being should be able to decide to take a life-saving vaccine without needing input from literal government-overthrow

Here's one I wrote up previously: A human being should be able to decide to take a life-saving vaccine without needing input from literal government-overthrow types, evaluate their own government's ongoing invasions for credibility, make conscious diet choices, avoid road rage, design a life plan, write a journal entry for internal meditation/peace, manage and plan for long-term financial stability in the face of change, connect a device to the internet, evaluate another person's general physical and emotional state, know some first aid, comfort the dying, contextualize and integrate feedback, offer and design feedback, cooperate, act alone while understanding the risks of subjective mindsets, know where they can go to get help with math, list and organize the various aspects of a new problem, test a CO2 or smoke detector, sign up for texts from local authorities, evaluate a meal for balance, fight creatively, and make plans to die with supportive friends around. (...though this "should" thing is a real pain in the neck. Do we say that means "in order to get my approval", which turns the entire thing into a fractal mansplain, or "ideally, in order to face today's pressures"? I like the latter better as it encourages a more open approach to the way we judge other humans and their capabilities, especially if we feel a need to map our own competencies onto everyone else...) Context: I learned how to do all of Heinlein's things with the possible exception of building design, which I only studied at a conceptual level, albeit alongside an expert in conceptual & environmental design. I doubt conceptual work is what Heinlein had in mind, because he himself did conceptual design to pay the bills and IMO therefore unfortunately rated it lower in terms of a subjective ideal. In my opinion he rated workaday tasks highly because of his wide-ranging mind; those wise ones with workaday schedules on the other hand will tend to rate wide-ranging mental tasks higher to those who listen. Heinlein also vastly underrated the information age if this quote is to be taken as wisdom for our time. In the process of learning that Heinlein-list stuff I earned an Eagle Scout award and had some other wild experiences. A lot of fun was had, but there were some clear issues with his list that became way more clear when I started offering training and coaching. He clearly included his higher-self ideal in the standard and fell into the standard-setter's trap of outright exclusion of swaths of people and what they can be reasonably taught & expected to do. And if you come from a family where it's common to pitch manure (or just about anything really bad, even counting things like being stooped over inside a fuselage all day as an aerospace engineer), they may still want you to remember your horse sense, but they are definitely going to want you to use your intuitive side and write some poetry if that'll keep the following generations out of the tough-labor biz. Based on the list contents I don't think he meant to sound like an idealist but that's where his list puts him--learn to do the things on the list then invite others around you to do the same and you'll know what I mean. It's interesting to think about that aspect, too--Heinlein didn't even attempt to provide a measurement framework for these items. It's a serious-sounding list but it's hard to believe he cared too much about others completing it. Logically it makes more sense as a condemnation of the late course of human civilization. This is really unfortunate because had a measurement framework been attached, had a real effort been made to offer more than critique, it could have been huge.