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You cannot know what you will find useful in the future. A broad education helps inform your decisions on a huge variety of subjects, even without realizing it.
by ericd 15y ago
You cannot know what you will find useful in the future. A broad education helps inform your decisions on a huge variety of subjects, even without realizing it. Learning only what you think you'll need for your future profession is a really terrible idea.
- yummyfajitas 15y agoWith certainty, no. So what? The right question to ask is this: Is P(need subject X) x (cost of not knowing X) < (cost of learning X)? Since the cost of learning X tends to be high (at least if you learn it in school), and the cost of not knowing it is very often nothing but the cost of learning it + cost of delays, this inequality is very often not satisfied.
- ericd 15y agoI'm not talking about certainty. I'm saying that humans are impossibly bad at figuring out the first two variables in that equation, and only slightly better at figuring out the cost of learning. And the opportunity cost of not knowing things can be staggering. If you just want to maximize your wealth, maybe that approach is workable, since there are more tangible numbers involved, but if you're optimizing for happiness, it's much, much harder.