Generalists own the future

In ancient Athens, when Socrates was around, citizens were expected to be generalists. A man was a farmer, a lawyer, a defendant, a juror, a congressman, and a warrior all in one. It was a golden age of culture, and it was enabled by the generalist nature of that society. The British classicist H.D.F. Kitto wrote that the... See more

From sculpting to gardening

Another way to think about this is to consider the difference between a sculptor and a gardener. A sculptor takes a block of marble and turns it into a work of art. Every line and curve in a sculpture is there because the sculptor decided to put it there with her hands.

A garden is different. A gardener can’t directly... See more