While I do claim to be a polymath, I always have started my day with the affirmation "I know nothing. I humble myself to the ways of the world and, by extension, the universe." I like to think that I have an open mind, that I listen to others ideas and opinions, no matter where they're coming from, and can walk away from any convo or confrontation with the knowledge that I can assimilate the knowledge and evidence others proffer before me, along with my own knowledge and evidence that I myself reciprocate. By doing this repeatedly, while always reading, studying, analyzing, investigating and reviewing these and other issues, ideas and concepts, I will amass a portfolio of knowledge that will enable me to keep pursuing mastery in a topic, or leave it alone for the time being.
All this is to say that my presumption is that I'm starting from scratch every day in my quest for knowledge and wisdom, and I take no thing or no one for granted.
yes ... good take ... agree! i am a poet, a painter, a composer/performer and i start my day with "thanks uniVERSE for letting me be here... a small but necessary part".
My daily mantra is slightly different. I go with "I'm as dumb today as I'm ever going to be. Let's see what we can do to improve," and see where the day takes me.
I am never having a conversation with you again. Lol
I'm kidding. 😀
I do love that you wrote this, and I echo Sam's point about some titles not being something you get to claim for yourself. It's like saying, I have arrived." Saying one enjoys philosophy is not the same as saying you're a philosopher. Seems like that's something other people say about you when you're dead; if you say it while you're still here, you're announcing that you've got it all figured out.
I love the concept of polymathy but can't bring myself to claim the term. I adhere to the principles you describe and that's enough for me.
I've been trying to describe how I interact with the world in non-douchey sounding terms for like 30 years now. Still working on it. Polymathic is as good as anything else I've ever heard.
Initially curious about the necessity, I liked this piece. Having a broader and diverse perspective is crucial to innovation and as you put it 'expanding the solution space.'
Someone once said about focus 'there are people who look ahead through the windshield and others who stare at the wipers.' There's your 25 vs 75 percent. I also think crowdsourcing deserves more respect as specialization can lead to tunnelvision.
For the bloviating jackwad, I see it as a Dunning-Kruger curve problem: they pursue breadth of knowledge but stop at the peak of Mount Stupid, with the hubris to keep declaring they've reached another summit. Both value and humility come from moving along into the Valley of Despair, while realizing the unique value breadth offers.
For the rest of society, the bias toward depth of expertise often shows up in defining knowledge by traditional domains and titles. Nouns are easier to understand. Chemistry, Physics, Economics, Psychology, or Engineer, Scientist, Economist, etc.
Systems Thinkers and polymaths struggle to define themselves in such a way because how they offer value is best expressed through verbs rather than nouns. Connect, Compare, Integrate. When someone wants a clear definition, they expect to hear a noun, and they aren't used to the importance of cross-disciplinary relationships.
While I do claim to be a polymath, I always have started my day with the affirmation "I know nothing. I humble myself to the ways of the world and, by extension, the universe." I like to think that I have an open mind, that I listen to others ideas and opinions, no matter where they're coming from, and can walk away from any convo or confrontation with the knowledge that I can assimilate the knowledge and evidence others proffer before me, along with my own knowledge and evidence that I myself reciprocate. By doing this repeatedly, while always reading, studying, analyzing, investigating and reviewing these and other issues, ideas and concepts, I will amass a portfolio of knowledge that will enable me to keep pursuing mastery in a topic, or leave it alone for the time being.
All this is to say that my presumption is that I'm starting from scratch every day in my quest for knowledge and wisdom, and I take no thing or no one for granted.
yes ... good take ... agree! i am a poet, a painter, a composer/performer and i start my day with "thanks uniVERSE for letting me be here... a small but necessary part".
That's awesome .
My daily mantra is slightly different. I go with "I'm as dumb today as I'm ever going to be. Let's see what we can do to improve," and see where the day takes me.
Brilliant
That's a great place to be.
I am never having a conversation with you again. Lol
I'm kidding. 😀
I do love that you wrote this, and I echo Sam's point about some titles not being something you get to claim for yourself. It's like saying, I have arrived." Saying one enjoys philosophy is not the same as saying you're a philosopher. Seems like that's something other people say about you when you're dead; if you say it while you're still here, you're announcing that you've got it all figured out.
I love the concept of polymathy but can't bring myself to claim the term. I adhere to the principles you describe and that's enough for me.
Lol. I did warn you I was going to quote you! It's perfect too.
This one so good Michael 💪🏻👏
Thanks! 👊🏼
I've been trying to describe how I interact with the world in non-douchey sounding terms for like 30 years now. Still working on it. Polymathic is as good as anything else I've ever heard.
The problem isn't the words. It's the jackwads that ruin them 🤣
I'm gonna push back a little! Until we have a Vulcan mind-meld, we will never each truly know what the other thinks.
Initially curious about the necessity, I liked this piece. Having a broader and diverse perspective is crucial to innovation and as you put it 'expanding the solution space.'
Someone once said about focus 'there are people who look ahead through the windshield and others who stare at the wipers.' There's your 25 vs 75 percent. I also think crowdsourcing deserves more respect as specialization can lead to tunnelvision.
Absolutely.
For the bloviating jackwad, I see it as a Dunning-Kruger curve problem: they pursue breadth of knowledge but stop at the peak of Mount Stupid, with the hubris to keep declaring they've reached another summit. Both value and humility come from moving along into the Valley of Despair, while realizing the unique value breadth offers.
For the rest of society, the bias toward depth of expertise often shows up in defining knowledge by traditional domains and titles. Nouns are easier to understand. Chemistry, Physics, Economics, Psychology, or Engineer, Scientist, Economist, etc.
Systems Thinkers and polymaths struggle to define themselves in such a way because how they offer value is best expressed through verbs rather than nouns. Connect, Compare, Integrate. When someone wants a clear definition, they expect to hear a noun, and they aren't used to the importance of cross-disciplinary relationships.
I love that that's thought on verbs vs nouns. I'm going to steal that shamelessly. That was perfect.
Please do! I've been struggling with the verb/noun problem for a while.