The last one is the most important and difficult. Will keep that in mind to make our words on Substack improve the world’s discourse. As a fellow occupant of the messy middle between generalist and specialist, I appreciate everything you write about!
What makes you think generalists have to be superficial? In our age of overspecialized “experts” we desperately need generalists with the ability to integrate information from multiple disciplines.
Huge amen. Furthermore one notices that people can be highly trained and intelligent in their field, use best practices that others approve of, and yet fail to realize what they're doing does not actually work well.
I work in the field of STEM/STEAM education, viewed primarily through the lens of engineering. We sometimes talk about the need to create a “T-shaped engineer”. What we mean by that is someone who has a broad understanding of many subjects, while also having a significant depth of knowledge in specific area(s). In engineering, and in much of society, new information is becoming available so quickly we must all be continuous learners, able to integrate societal, economic, and technical considerations when thinking about a subject.
Couldn't agree more. The trend toward specialization, especially in medicine, references an 18th century mechanistic view of the huuman body which Chinese Traditional Medicine practitioners have known for centuries makes no sense whatsoever.
Couldn't agree more. With some notable exceptions, I find that, when I'm interviewing prospective employees for my company, everyone "specializes" in something. Even their undergrad degree is a "specialization." Back in the day, a computer science major would know his or her way around a computer and be proficient at many coding languages. Now, they come prepared to "master" one or two.
My background is in international manufacturing and supply chain ops. When I started, one had to be nimble and wear a wide array of hats to get the job done. Now, we have specialists in "SE Asian Logistics" or "Intermodal LTL Shipments." WTF. I fully realize our world is more complex now; that's how I survived 50 years in this business. However, I get a lot more "I don't know, boss" answers today than I ever have...
I admire those who seek out and find newer music. Important to avoid the common pattern of locking-in to the music that mattered to you in the past. ("Your comfort zone will kill you.") And yet here's something to be said for revisiting older works. If you read a truly rich book at 25 and read it again at 50 you may find that your younger self missed a fair amount. And it's not just that you have changed: sometimes, somehow, contemporary culture brings out a dimension of an older work-- it will seem relevant in a way it never did in the past. If art is deep, its depth (or its superficiality) gets revealed in time. So: in the same way you say "Yes" to High culture AND Low culture, "Yes" to specialization AND the joys of more broad or superficial learning, well, keep on with the new but why revisit the past now and then? Some of those older works, forgotten artists, deserve another opportunity to be heard, or barely had that opportunity to begin with.
I agree. Classics in literature, art, history, music, philosophy - the whole gamut of human experience - repay study. They touch the genuine in real ways that never stale. But classics are easily ruined by dead minds and thereby lose their luster. They polish up nicely with intelligent attention.
Agree completely. I'm not the man I was when I was 29 and that is a good thing. It also means the earlier learnings I've found in fiction, music and studying must be revisited to glean even more insight. Leavening those expanded conclusions with new learnings from today makes the content even richer, more satisfying and, sometimes, more frightening. Well worth the effort to balance one's attention on both.
My fav article since I joined Substack. As an old musician and writer, now retired, doing what I want artistically, still hoping for someone to get something out of my work, that all hits home. The concept is great, and your particular problems -- yes.
I love this idea! I definitely agree that having questions is worth more than having answers and it’s nice to see that the questions you have here are all questions that really can’t be given a definitive answer.
I liked this for the title alone, first time I’ve ever done that. Then I read the first line: solution seeking over problems. Similar to my mantra “questions over answers”.
Young people would do well to emulate the Guiding Questions model. It's also interesting how these questions change over time. I myself am grappling with Simulation Theory and how the belief and/or fact of living inside a computer program might change both my personal questions and my responses to them. I've found Howdie Mikoski's work on this subject to be the best so far.
I know the feeling. Well Go, whatever you do, don't go towards the light! Apparently that's the reincarnation trap to suck our energy back into the Matrix.
Criticism; I always frame it in the same sense as literary criticism - not opinion first, but a careful and meticulous reading, discerning patterns and nuances of text. Then, the opinion comes in framing those discoveries in a context - current? At the time of the writing? Across space and time? And, then, what do I infer from that frame. Murray Kreiger - The Play and Place of Criticism - was one of my teachers.
Wow, I loved this. I really relate to the specialist vs generalist problem as a music-maker… jazz takes a lifetime to learn, I’m still trying after 3 decades, but so also does my main passion electronic music and then there’s songwriting… there’s not enough time to learn everything well enough! Production/mixing/lyrics/composing/sound design… the list goes on and on. Haven’t found the solution but this framework will help me think about the problem in different ways. Thank you!
Fascinating piece Ted. Like all good writing it made me think. It made me think about my own writing. This is a keeper. A "re-visitor." If there is such a word. Well, there is now. Thank you.
All the best questions defy easy answers. Yours are terrific. One reason: many seek to balance competing claims that share legitimacy. For example, breadth and depth of knowledge; universal and parochial beauties; judgment and generosity. I keep coming back to things too, and now I should probably make a list like this. Thanks.
“I spend a lot of time seeking out music from different countries and regions, and with each passing year the challenge of finding something distinctively local diminishes.“
Is this what you meant to say Ted? Did you mean to say the *challenge* diminishes, meaning that it gets easier to find something distinctively local? Or did you mean to say the *possibility* of finding something distinctly local diminishes each year?
The last one is the most important and difficult. Will keep that in mind to make our words on Substack improve the world’s discourse. As a fellow occupant of the messy middle between generalist and specialist, I appreciate everything you write about!
What makes you think generalists have to be superficial? In our age of overspecialized “experts” we desperately need generalists with the ability to integrate information from multiple disciplines.
Huge amen. Furthermore one notices that people can be highly trained and intelligent in their field, use best practices that others approve of, and yet fail to realize what they're doing does not actually work well.
I work in the field of STEM/STEAM education, viewed primarily through the lens of engineering. We sometimes talk about the need to create a “T-shaped engineer”. What we mean by that is someone who has a broad understanding of many subjects, while also having a significant depth of knowledge in specific area(s). In engineering, and in much of society, new information is becoming available so quickly we must all be continuous learners, able to integrate societal, economic, and technical considerations when thinking about a subject.
Couldn't agree more. The trend toward specialization, especially in medicine, references an 18th century mechanistic view of the huuman body which Chinese Traditional Medicine practitioners have known for centuries makes no sense whatsoever.
Folks forget the Latin roots of the word university and why the institution had that name in the first place.
Wow that’s deep. Do you mind explaining a little more about this?
Read The Web That Has No Weaver by Ted Kaptchuk.
Couldn't agree more. With some notable exceptions, I find that, when I'm interviewing prospective employees for my company, everyone "specializes" in something. Even their undergrad degree is a "specialization." Back in the day, a computer science major would know his or her way around a computer and be proficient at many coding languages. Now, they come prepared to "master" one or two.
My background is in international manufacturing and supply chain ops. When I started, one had to be nimble and wear a wide array of hats to get the job done. Now, we have specialists in "SE Asian Logistics" or "Intermodal LTL Shipments." WTF. I fully realize our world is more complex now; that's how I survived 50 years in this business. However, I get a lot more "I don't know, boss" answers today than I ever have...
Agree.
Love this Ted, I think I have a dozen problems too that I have been working on my whole life. You inspire me to write them down. You and Feynman.
I admire those who seek out and find newer music. Important to avoid the common pattern of locking-in to the music that mattered to you in the past. ("Your comfort zone will kill you.") And yet here's something to be said for revisiting older works. If you read a truly rich book at 25 and read it again at 50 you may find that your younger self missed a fair amount. And it's not just that you have changed: sometimes, somehow, contemporary culture brings out a dimension of an older work-- it will seem relevant in a way it never did in the past. If art is deep, its depth (or its superficiality) gets revealed in time. So: in the same way you say "Yes" to High culture AND Low culture, "Yes" to specialization AND the joys of more broad or superficial learning, well, keep on with the new but why revisit the past now and then? Some of those older works, forgotten artists, deserve another opportunity to be heard, or barely had that opportunity to begin with.
I agree. Classics in literature, art, history, music, philosophy - the whole gamut of human experience - repay study. They touch the genuine in real ways that never stale. But classics are easily ruined by dead minds and thereby lose their luster. They polish up nicely with intelligent attention.
Agree completely. I'm not the man I was when I was 29 and that is a good thing. It also means the earlier learnings I've found in fiction, music and studying must be revisited to glean even more insight. Leavening those expanded conclusions with new learnings from today makes the content even richer, more satisfying and, sometimes, more frightening. Well worth the effort to balance one's attention on both.
My fav article since I joined Substack. As an old musician and writer, now retired, doing what I want artistically, still hoping for someone to get something out of my work, that all hits home. The concept is great, and your particular problems -- yes.
Simply wonderful compartmentalization.
I love this idea! I definitely agree that having questions is worth more than having answers and it’s nice to see that the questions you have here are all questions that really can’t be given a definitive answer.
I liked this for the title alone, first time I’ve ever done that. Then I read the first line: solution seeking over problems. Similar to my mantra “questions over answers”.
Young people would do well to emulate the Guiding Questions model. It's also interesting how these questions change over time. I myself am grappling with Simulation Theory and how the belief and/or fact of living inside a computer program might change both my personal questions and my responses to them. I've found Howdie Mikoski's work on this subject to be the best so far.
I just read a transcript of his conversation on Conscious TV. I have so much sork to do and so little time to do it.
I know the feeling. Well Go, whatever you do, don't go towards the light! Apparently that's the reincarnation trap to suck our energy back into the Matrix.
I've never been able to accept reincarnation, it seems like an invention to avoid the reality of death. Too bad we're taught to fear death.
Not necessarily taught, it's quite instinctive. All creatures resist death, will endure much to avoid it.
I'm going to write about this soon.
Criticism; I always frame it in the same sense as literary criticism - not opinion first, but a careful and meticulous reading, discerning patterns and nuances of text. Then, the opinion comes in framing those discoveries in a context - current? At the time of the writing? Across space and time? And, then, what do I infer from that frame. Murray Kreiger - The Play and Place of Criticism - was one of my teachers.
Wow, I loved this. I really relate to the specialist vs generalist problem as a music-maker… jazz takes a lifetime to learn, I’m still trying after 3 decades, but so also does my main passion electronic music and then there’s songwriting… there’s not enough time to learn everything well enough! Production/mixing/lyrics/composing/sound design… the list goes on and on. Haven’t found the solution but this framework will help me think about the problem in different ways. Thank you!
I'm running a little behind and catching up, but this is one of my favorite pieces in the Gioia canon!
Thank you so much. You are a reasonable human being, (always in short supply). Inspirational for me.
Fascinating piece Ted. Like all good writing it made me think. It made me think about my own writing. This is a keeper. A "re-visitor." If there is such a word. Well, there is now. Thank you.
All the best questions defy easy answers. Yours are terrific. One reason: many seek to balance competing claims that share legitimacy. For example, breadth and depth of knowledge; universal and parochial beauties; judgment and generosity. I keep coming back to things too, and now I should probably make a list like this. Thanks.
“I spend a lot of time seeking out music from different countries and regions, and with each passing year the challenge of finding something distinctively local diminishes.“
Is this what you meant to say Ted? Did you mean to say the *challenge* diminishes, meaning that it gets easier to find something distinctively local? Or did you mean to say the *possibility* of finding something distinctly local diminishes each year?
Listen to traditional music from Issan in Thailand. Lots of it on youtube.