jack of all trades.
My iPod played “Pure Imagination” and I immediately thought of Roald Dahl (“Pure Imagination” was one of the songs on the original 1971 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’s soundtrack; and the book was of course written by Roald Dahl). After reading through his biography; which I have oddly never read before, odd, because I’ve pretty much read everybody’s biography on Wikipedia before. Seeing as I spend at least a couple of hours a day reading articles on there, it’s really quite possible.
I realized, that Roald Dahl wasn’t just an author. He was really quite accomplished at everything. He was a pilot with the air force. He served in WWII. He spent a fortune and lots of time on research to cure diseases. He wasn’t just any man. I often wonder how people like him come around. One of the most famous examples is of course, Leonardo da Vinci. The man was an artist, a mathematician, an inventor, and a musician.
People are always talking about how it’s better to be a master of one than to be a jack of all trades. But whoever said that you have to be a master of just one? Why not set your goals higher? As high as they can go anyway? I know that I would certainly be very unsatisfied if I sucked at everything except for ONE thing. I’d rather be pretty good at everything than excellent at one and crappy at everything else.
But is it really possible? Notwithstanding the fact that none of us are polymaths like da Vinci or Goethe or Newton, could we really excel in so many different fields?
I often wonder... if technology isn’t really helping us... that what it’s really doing is limiting our capabilities. When was the last time you went outside and took a walk just because? When was the last time you saw kids playing imaginary games with one another instead of having their eyes glued on the TV screen playing some video game or other? Are we slowly devolving into a fat, useless species like the characters portrayed in Wall-E, unable to do anything for ourselves and relying entirely on technology for our survival?
I once watched a documentary... the claim was that, future wars will not be fought will guns and bullets and bombs. They will be fought with technology like magnetic pulses. The kinds that wipe out telecommunications, satellites, electricity. What would we do without all that today? More and more, regular landlines are being replaced by cellular phones. How many people even own maps anymore? We used to have people with a good sense of direction who could decipher maps (a talent we all appreciated); now? All we have are people who can key in addresses accurately in their GPS units.
Sometimes I really do fear for humanity.
I realized, that Roald Dahl wasn’t just an author. He was really quite accomplished at everything. He was a pilot with the air force. He served in WWII. He spent a fortune and lots of time on research to cure diseases. He wasn’t just any man. I often wonder how people like him come around. One of the most famous examples is of course, Leonardo da Vinci. The man was an artist, a mathematician, an inventor, and a musician.
People are always talking about how it’s better to be a master of one than to be a jack of all trades. But whoever said that you have to be a master of just one? Why not set your goals higher? As high as they can go anyway? I know that I would certainly be very unsatisfied if I sucked at everything except for ONE thing. I’d rather be pretty good at everything than excellent at one and crappy at everything else.
But is it really possible? Notwithstanding the fact that none of us are polymaths like da Vinci or Goethe or Newton, could we really excel in so many different fields?
I often wonder... if technology isn’t really helping us... that what it’s really doing is limiting our capabilities. When was the last time you went outside and took a walk just because? When was the last time you saw kids playing imaginary games with one another instead of having their eyes glued on the TV screen playing some video game or other? Are we slowly devolving into a fat, useless species like the characters portrayed in Wall-E, unable to do anything for ourselves and relying entirely on technology for our survival?
I once watched a documentary... the claim was that, future wars will not be fought will guns and bullets and bombs. They will be fought with technology like magnetic pulses. The kinds that wipe out telecommunications, satellites, electricity. What would we do without all that today? More and more, regular landlines are being replaced by cellular phones. How many people even own maps anymore? We used to have people with a good sense of direction who could decipher maps (a talent we all appreciated); now? All we have are people who can key in addresses accurately in their GPS units.
Sometimes I really do fear for humanity.