I don’t think we have any real disagreement here. Clearly, if the present system is not in danger of breaking down catastrophically (and it doesn’t seem to be, at least in the short to medium run), we’re better off with specialization. Unlike in the 19th century, we are technologically far beyond the limit of what could be created from scratch without enormous numbers of people working in highly specialized roles, and barring a cataclysmic breakdown, old-fashioned versatile technical skills are not worth the opportunity cost of acquiring them.
(I think you are underestimating the difficulty of translating information from books into actually getting things done, though. Think just how hard it is to cook competently from recipes if you’re a newbie.)
In the past, however, people didn’t have this luxury of living in a complex world where you can create value and prosper by specializing, and where you can acquire correct scientific knowledge from readily available sources. Yet with their crude provisional theories and primitive and self-reliant technical abilities, they managed to create the foundations for our present knowledge and technology out of almost nothing. I think we do owe them respect for this, as well as the recognition that their work required amazing practical skills that few, if any people have today, even if only because it’s no longer worthwhile to acquire them.
Think just how hard it is to cook competently from recipes if you’re a newbie.
I’m not sure this is a good example because I’ve had great success cooking out of the Fannie Farmer cookbook. However, this does not negate your point about difficulty, because kitchen cooking is not necessarily representative of the difficulty of things in general.
I think we do owe them respect for this
Yes, this is one of those other points that I’m not disputing.
I don’t think we have any real disagreement here. Clearly, if the present system is not in danger of breaking down catastrophically (and it doesn’t seem to be, at least in the short to medium run), we’re better off with specialization. Unlike in the 19th century, we are technologically far beyond the limit of what could be created from scratch without enormous numbers of people working in highly specialized roles, and barring a cataclysmic breakdown, old-fashioned versatile technical skills are not worth the opportunity cost of acquiring them.
(I think you are underestimating the difficulty of translating information from books into actually getting things done, though. Think just how hard it is to cook competently from recipes if you’re a newbie.)
In the past, however, people didn’t have this luxury of living in a complex world where you can create value and prosper by specializing, and where you can acquire correct scientific knowledge from readily available sources. Yet with their crude provisional theories and primitive and self-reliant technical abilities, they managed to create the foundations for our present knowledge and technology out of almost nothing. I think we do owe them respect for this, as well as the recognition that their work required amazing practical skills that few, if any people have today, even if only because it’s no longer worthwhile to acquire them.
I’m not sure this is a good example because I’ve had great success cooking out of the Fannie Farmer cookbook. However, this does not negate your point about difficulty, because kitchen cooking is not necessarily representative of the difficulty of things in general.
Yes, this is one of those other points that I’m not disputing.
I disagree. If Isaac Newton believes I owe him something, he can call my lawyer, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t agree to anything of the sort.