A human 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.
This famous quote appears in the First Intermission of Time Enough for Love by Robert Heinlein. The book chronicles how the two thousand year old character Lazarus Long almost ended his life, but a new family and a prospect of time travel gave him renewed zest for living. The two intermissions in the book offer the wisdom sayings of Lazarus Long. The quote is attributed to a fictional character, whose beliefs may not necessarily line up with those of the author. Does this quote meet the criterion of actually something Robert Heinlein would agree to? From Heinlein’s works, I do recognize a distinct enthusiasm for a person having a wide variety of skills. For example in “Have Spacesuit- Will Travel” Kip mentions two engineering disciplines he is interested in. An older character suggests “Why not both? I deplore this modern over specialization”. Therefore, as a guess, on a scale of 1-10, this quote matches with Heinlein’s beliefs as a 10/10. I should mention that I am not a literalist in interpreting the words of Heinlein. I’m definitely in the camp of metaphorically interpreting his words. Of course, who gets the final say in of the meaning is a discussion for another day. The list of things a human should be able to do is very long, and at first reading, my reaction was “Yeah, Lazarus Long was two thousand years old, of course he had time to learn all this.” Take a deeper look. People know many of those items already, and may not realize they can do others. The easy items are as follows:
Analyze a new problem does not need to mean to solve some complicated math word problem. It could be as simple as “Mom has to work late, Kid 1 needs taking to work, Kid 2 has to get to a soccer match, and I have to make dinner.” People figure that stuff out every day. So how many people would ever plan an invasion? Even folks with decades long military careers never do this. But we could interpret that to mean any sort of gathering with logistics involved. My friends recently planned and executed a writer’s conference. In a sense they had to invade the local community college (call the college and schedule use of the room), bring in specialty troops (hire the speaker, arrange his food and lodging), and solve the logistics (bring lots of snacks, decide whether to provide lunch or a list of restaurants). Similar things could be said about large family reunions, or even small gatherings. My dad cooks for himself, but he’s not going to cook for his kids, grandkids, and great grandchildren. But his house is centrally located and a good place for a family gathering. So simply coordinating among relatives eg, “We’re bringing meat, can you bring sides? The kids are bringing pie and the domino set,” constitutes ‘planning an invasion.’ Set a bone is learned from first aid courses. Of course, most people won’t be able to set a compound fracture, but they can still learn how to tie a splint, along with other basic first aid. Fight efficiently means many things. Most people could benefit from basic self defense knowledge. I’ve heard most people don’t know how to fight well and having just basic knowledge of throwing a punch and how to get somebody off you when wrestling can help you immensely. Also, fighting is about the hardest physical activity there is, so being in good shape with good wind means you can outlast some opponents. Of course there are some folks who are just too fragile or small to hurt their attackers much. In those cases, ‘efficiently’ can mean the use of a taser, pepper spray, or firearm. Finally, the best fight is the one you can avoid. Knowing how to convince people to do what you want, or talk them down from violence is something everybody should learn. Such skills overlap with ‘cooperate’, ‘give orders’, and ‘take orders’. What’s left? Write a sonnet, solve equations, conn a ship, butcher a hog, program a computer, build a wall, comfort the dying, design a building. Design a building again does not necessarily mean build a skyscraper or even a small garden shed. But ability to read blueprints, follow what the contractor is saying can all help a person. Most people will not program a computer to solve climate simulations. They can certainly use a computer to do things necessary -- figure out a budget, contact co-workers, create a mailing list - which for short lived people, is close enough. I’m not going through the final items. The quote pushes people to show flexibility and a willingness to learn new things. They can’t let themselves be pigeonholed by other people. Most importantly they can’t let themselves be pigeonholed by themselves. So, yes, if life brings you a wall to build, dig in and figure it out.
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