6 ms·

Cue the obligatory Heinlein quote: A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a so

by leobg 4y ago

Cue the obligatory Heinlein quote: A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. —Robert A. Heinlein

joejoesvk 4y ago
love this quote
nadermx 4y ago
So try and live life and partake in all its fascets
- baremetal 4y ago
  Set your life up so that every day is an adventure.
kuhewa 4y ago
He obviously drew on varied experiences and interests but I'd say there's some irony in the fact we know of Heinlein because of his specialist career writing science fiction, he wasn't throwing in technical manuals, guides to horse husbandry or poetry anthologies
- Gud 4y ago
  Heinlein was also in the US navy
xupybd 4y ago
I think you'll find most of us would do poorly at planning an invasion. The list seems bizarre and arbitrary.
- leobg 4y ago
  With that particular example, he might have been thinking not so much of modern society with its division of labor but of Stone Age tribes. Or, for that matter, many of the indigenous peoples who used to live in what is now the United States.
eternityforest 4y ago
That quote always felt way too extreme for me, like it's saying I should prioritize knowing how to repair a small engine I might never own or butcher a hog when I don't even eat meat, over skills I actually expect to need in the near future. Everyone should probably have more skills than they do now, including some that aren't currently needed for most people, but I don't want to throw away specialization entirely, or nobody will be able to build satellites and cell phones, and people really will need to set bones without medical aid. Some things are just really far outside of what a person expects to need, and everyone should probably pick a few of those, but I'm perfectly happy not knowing how a parser generator works or how to use a lathe I don't have space for. There's just too many skills to learn them all. Then again, a rare few seem to be able to make real progress in a specialist field while also knowing a bunch of awesome skills and doing ninjutsu, but most people say "Yeah, that's why I have a job, to pay people to do that" sometimes and are fine with it. But I go to events and do physical repair work, if I had to sit in an office of just all code all the time, maybe I'd have extreme views too, I've met a few people who were almost sad to watch, because they didn't seem to exist outside of code. I'm not sure where the balance is, but I do know I'm happy about the fact we have a semi functional society even if I don't like all of it.
- leobg 4y ago
  Tolstoi said something about this. Now he was talking about Jesus’ doctrine of “turning the other cheek“, and not to judge, I believe. And he says that that’s a very extremist position to take. But he compares it with a man trying to swim across a river that has a very strong current. If that man wants to land at a particular spot on the other side, he needs to aim at a spot much further upstream. Only by aiming much further upstream does he least have a chance of reaching his spot. Note that it also would not suffice to chose “pretend” that you’re aiming for the point further upstream. You actually do have to swim in that direction with all you’ve got. Otherwise you are going to be landing far downstream from where you intended to. I think that Heinlein quote here is trying to do the same thing.
  - spacephysics 4y ago
    I like this analogy a lot, and hadn’t thought of it that way. To me the quote also meant that knowing disparate things could lead to useful knowledge to the individual, even if they didn’t think so before. A programmer learning how to fix an engine, despite not being interested in cars, may give them insights into how systems work that can be applied in their programming work

by leobg 4y ago

joejoesvk 4y ago

love this quote

nadermx 4y ago

So try and live life and partake in all its fascets

baremetal 4y ago
Set your life up so that every day is an adventure.

kuhewa 4y ago

He obviously drew on varied experiences and interests but I'd say there's some irony in the fact we know of Heinlein because of his specialist career writing science fiction, he wasn't throwing in technical manuals, guides to horse husbandry or poetry anthologies

Gud 4y ago
Heinlein was also in the US navy

xupybd 4y ago

I think you'll find most of us would do poorly at planning an invasion. The list seems bizarre and arbitrary.

leobg 4y ago
With that particular example, he might have been thinking not so much of modern society with its division of labor but of Stone Age tribes. Or, for that matter, many of the indigenous peoples who used to live in what is now the United States.

eternityforest 4y ago

That quote always felt way too extreme for me, like it's saying I should prioritize knowing how to repair a small engine I might never own or butcher a hog when I don't even eat meat, over skills I actually expect to need in the near future. Everyone should probably have more skills than they do now, including some that aren't currently needed for most people, but I don't want to throw away specialization entirely, or nobody will be able to build satellites and cell phones, and people really will need to set bones without medical aid. Some things are just really far outside of what a person expects to need, and everyone should probably pick a few of those, but I'm perfectly happy not knowing how a parser generator works or how to use a lathe I don't have space for. There's just too many skills to learn them all. Then again, a rare few seem to be able to make real progress in a specialist field while also knowing a bunch of awesome skills and doing ninjutsu, but most people say "Yeah, that's why I have a job, to pay people to do that" sometimes and are fine with it. But I go to events and do physical repair work, if I had to sit in an office of just all code all the time, maybe I'd have extreme views too, I've met a few people who were almost sad to watch, because they didn't seem to exist outside of code. I'm not sure where the balance is, but I do know I'm happy about the fact we have a semi functional society even if I don't like all of it.

leobg 4y ago
Tolstoi said something about this. Now he was talking about Jesus’ doctrine of “turning the other cheek“, and not to judge, I believe. And he says that that’s a very extremist position to take. But he compares it with a man trying to swim across a river that has a very strong current. If that man wants to land at a particular spot on the other side, he needs to aim at a spot much further upstream. Only by aiming much further upstream does he least have a chance of reaching his spot. Note that it also would not suffice to chose “pretend” that you’re aiming for the point further upstream. You actually do have to swim in that direction with all you’ve got. Otherwise you are going to be landing far downstream from where you intended to. I think that Heinlein quote here is trying to do the same thing.
- spacephysics 4y ago
  I like this analogy a lot, and hadn’t thought of it that way. To me the quote also meant that knowing disparate things could lead to useful knowledge to the individual, even if they didn’t think so before. A programmer learning how to fix an engine, despite not being interested in cars, may give them insights into how systems work that can be applied in their programming work