5 ms·

The Last Days of the Polymath

16 points by imgabe 17y ago

nickpinkston 17y ago
There is a word for people who like knowledge: philomath. I'd say I'm one of those who's trying to become a polymath. Yes, I must agree that a strict polymath has made contributions to multiple fields, but that's very subjective. I'm not sure what the significance cut-off is contributions. If I have a widely read blog, a startup, and I've developed my own technology, am I a polymath?
- foldr 17y ago
  >If I have a widely read blog, a startup, and I've developed my own technology, am I a polymath? No.
  - hughprime 17y ago
    And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the problem with the term "polymath" -- too many people seem far too keen to apply it to themselves. I think the best strategy at this stage in history is the "know everything about something and something about everything" strategy. Aside from making life more interesting, the more you know about fields outside your own specialty the more likely you are to have great ideas in your own field, since most "new ideas" in a field are really just of the form "hey, why don't we try this approach which they use in another field on this field?"
amackera 17y ago
I think the term "hacker" is synonymous with polymath in many significant ways. I personally find myself inexplicably divided between many fields, all of which I am passionate about. My hacker philosophy has lead me to be well-read in political science, literature, philosophy, and of course computing and maths! As hackers we are driven by our insatiable curiosity. For me at least this curiosity is not often applied in the same direction.
- thaumaturgy 17y ago
  The article did a rather nice job of talking about this, and the difference between mere interest in multiple subjects -- "flitting" from subject to subject promiscuously -- and actually doing real work in multiple subjects. How many "hackers" here are accomplished authors -- not technical books, but social subjects or good fiction -- and accomplished programmers, and have accomplished something notable in another unrelated field?
  - jonsen 17y ago
    Polyhackers? http://mattlydonwrites.wordpress.com/2009/01/14/the-price-we-sometimes-pay-for-experience/ http://mattlydonwrites.wordpress.com/2009/01/14/the-price-we...
- fnid 17y ago
  I think you underestimate the significance of the term polymath. Polymaths don't just read about a lot of topics, they produce in a lot of topics. Brilliant minds like Da Vinci who painted, sculpted, wrote, experimented, philosophized. Being a polymath doesn't mean you find lots of topics interesting, it means you significantly influence multiple very broad and diverse fields of knowledge. You write papers on nanotechnology, cured cancer, wrote, starred in and directed a blockbuster movie. You also overvalue the term hacker. I can't tell you how many people I meet who think they are a hacker because they can get a Drupal site up and running or write a blog. I had a boss one time who was so happy that he had finally gotten back into coding. I said, "What'd you do?" He said, "I changed the HTML on the login form!" Ugh. So, "hacker" is not synonymous with polymath. Hacking is just one small field of knowledge that may be a part of a polymath's repertoire.
  - jonsen 17y ago
    My dictionary says polymath: a person of wide-ranging knowledge or learning. Wikipedia says In less formal terms, a polymath (or polymathic person) may simply refer to someone who is very knowledgeable.
    - 17y ago
jonsen 17y ago
Duplicate: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=844229 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=844229

16 points by imgabe 17y ago

There is a word for people who like knowledge: philomath. I'd say I'm one of those who's trying to become a polymath. Yes, I must agree that a strict polymath has made contributions to multiple fields, but that's very subjective. I'm not sure what the significance cut-off is contributions. If I have a widely read blog, a startup, and I've developed my own technology, am I a polymath?

foldr 17y ago
>If I have a widely read blog, a startup, and I've developed my own technology, am I a polymath? No.
- hughprime 17y ago
  And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the problem with the term "polymath" -- too many people seem far too keen to apply it to themselves. I think the best strategy at this stage in history is the "know everything about something and something about everything" strategy. Aside from making life more interesting, the more you know about fields outside your own specialty the more likely you are to have great ideas in your own field, since most "new ideas" in a field are really just of the form "hey, why don't we try this approach which they use in another field on this field?"

amackera 17y ago

I think the term "hacker" is synonymous with polymath in many significant ways. I personally find myself inexplicably divided between many fields, all of which I am passionate about. My hacker philosophy has lead me to be well-read in political science, literature, philosophy, and of course computing and maths! As hackers we are driven by our insatiable curiosity. For me at least this curiosity is not often applied in the same direction.

thaumaturgy 17y ago
The article did a rather nice job of talking about this, and the difference between mere interest in multiple subjects -- "flitting" from subject to subject promiscuously -- and actually doing real work in multiple subjects. How many "hackers" here are accomplished authors -- not technical books, but social subjects or good fiction -- and accomplished programmers, and have accomplished something notable in another unrelated field?
- jonsen 17y ago
  Polyhackers? http://mattlydonwrites.wordpress.com/2009/01/14/the-price-we-sometimes-pay-for-experience/ http://mattlydonwrites.wordpress.com/2009/01/14/the-price-we...
fnid 17y ago
I think you underestimate the significance of the term polymath. Polymaths don't just read about a lot of topics, they produce in a lot of topics. Brilliant minds like Da Vinci who painted, sculpted, wrote, experimented, philosophized. Being a polymath doesn't mean you find lots of topics interesting, it means you significantly influence multiple very broad and diverse fields of knowledge. You write papers on nanotechnology, cured cancer, wrote, starred in and directed a blockbuster movie. You also overvalue the term hacker. I can't tell you how many people I meet who think they are a hacker because they can get a Drupal site up and running or write a blog. I had a boss one time who was so happy that he had finally gotten back into coding. I said, "What'd you do?" He said, "I changed the HTML on the login form!" Ugh. So, "hacker" is not synonymous with polymath. Hacking is just one small field of knowledge that may be a part of a polymath's repertoire.
- jonsen 17y ago
  My dictionary says polymath: a person of wide-ranging knowledge or learning. Wikipedia says In less formal terms, a polymath (or polymathic person) may simply refer to someone who is very knowledgeable.
  - 17y ago

jonsen 17y ago

Duplicate: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=844229 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=844229