Skills thread

**LozHinge the Unhinged** · 11-01-2013, 23:00

/frightening flashback

Thanks a bunch, Steve!

**stillman** · 12-01-2013, 13:13

Originally Posted by Stevinator

Like when the guy that played data went on alphas. Can you close your eyes and use the sounds for sonar like that blind guy who rides the bike?

FotD: Research shows that everyone can learn some echolocation with practice. Of course, blind people excel.

Originally Posted by jmervyn

I'm a crack shot, obviously, but I've never tried to be uniquely skilled at any one thing - I recall a game (Traveller?) that had a "Jack of all Trades" skill and I thought, "THAT's MEE!".

I prefer the opposite: specialization and extremism. The human population is big enough that it's Ok to focus like a laser beam on one thing. Then again, MacGyver is a pretty cool show.

**BobCox2** · 13-01-2013, 03:51

I can do this.

**jmervyn** · 14-01-2013, 12:15

Originally Posted by stillman

I prefer the opposite: specialization and extremism. The human population is big enough that it's Ok to focus like a laser beam on one thing. Then again, MacGyver is a pretty cool show.

When a society over-specializes, it increases vulnerability to disruption exponentially. Already we have urban populations that do not bother to labor and cannot manage to feed or clothe themselves.

Punchline:

Spoiler

**Leopold Stotch** · 14-01-2013, 22:06

Originally Posted by krischan

Yes. My mother can't. I can't wiggle my ears BTW.

me neither!

Originally Posted by jmervyn

When a society over-specializes, it increases vulnerability to disruption exponentially. Already we have urban populations that do not bother to labor and cannot manage to feed or clothe themselves.

Punchline:

Spoiler

**Leopold Stotch** · 17-01-2013, 00:11

I was sort of in the mood for drawing and then I saw this. I threw my drawing pad behind me and laughed.

And this one made me laugh harder at myself. Draw? More like childish scribbles!!!

**stillman** · 17-01-2013, 20:40

Originally Posted by jmervyn

When a society over-specializes, it increases vulnerability to disruption exponentially. Already we have urban populations that do not bother to labor and cannot manage to feed or clothe themselves.

What do you mean by disruption? I think the problem you mentioned is not brought on by specialization. That's specializing in government-planned leeching or uselessness, which is really the opposite of mastering a skill.

**jmervyn** · 17-01-2013, 21:04

Originally Posted by stillman

What do you mean by disruption?

It <could> be anything. Sadly, we don't know enough about the collapse of the Mayan civilization, but the Romans, the Japanese, and the Aztecs(?) were highly sophisticated and specialized societies which, while 'officially' falling to outside conquest or interference, were thoroughly rotten before actually collapsing.

Originally Posted by stillman

I think the problem you mentioned is not brought on by specialization. That's specializing in government-planned leeching or uselessness, which is really the opposite of mastering a skill.

Well, I disagree. Bear in mind that what I'm referring to is the tendency of someone to become a cog in the social machinery, not the ability to become a master craftsman. When your society is completely interdependent and reliant upon others fulfilling their roles, you achieve maximum productivity but also increasing vulnerability. I can neither shoe a horse nor fix an engine, but if I can't trade my military or IT skills because the markets are reduced to barter, what good are the IT skills?

It might be a good Masters' thesis to determine which is more actually vulnerable - a cohesive inter-dependent society, or a cohesive independent society. My money's on the latter.

**BobCox2** · 18-01-2013, 04:30

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

RAH

**jmervyn** · 18-01-2013, 10:42

Originally Posted by BobCox2

RAH

Thank you; good recall. Louis L'Amour was another example.

I'm not as 'radical' in my view as H. was, but I'm just pointing out that the 'specialization' concept, while improving the overall communal situation, weakens its potential resiliency for the same reason. IMO there's a happy middle ground, but America hasn't been there since before 1950.

Everyone but the elite used to have a garden and chickens in the backyard.