The Modern Polymath [When Your AI goes Awry]
co-written with OMNI from AlterAI.me
The following is a text co-written with omni, the very powerful AI engine from alterai.me
The bold text is my input or nudge.
Notice how things take an unexpected turn by the end.
The polymath is a person who knows a lot of different things.
In the Middle Ages, the polymath was highly valued as an advisor to kings and popes.
The modern polymath is valued as well, but not by kings and popes.
A person who knows a lot about only one subject is considered an expert.
There are thousands of experts in the world, but there are only a few polymaths.
A polymath has to be more than just a good expert.
A polymath has to know a lot about a lot of different subjects.
Polymaths are able to see connections between different subjects.
For example, a person who knows about computers is also likely to know about the Internet.
A polymath is likely to know both things independently of each other.
A polymath is able to use the Internet to solve problems that arise in computers and vice versa. In other words, a polymath is likely to know how computers can be used to design better Internet protocols.
A polymath has the ability to use one area of knowledge to solve problems in unrelated areas. For example, a polymath can use a theorem from number theory to design a new machine.
Polymaths are rare in part because they are not trained as polymaths. Most people are trained to be experts, not polymaths. In other words, most people learn how to solve problems within a single area of knowledge. For example, most people who study computers learn how to design better computers and how to use computers for word processing and email.
But they do not learn about other subjects that would allow them to solve problems that arise in the field of computer science.
Most people who study biology learn how cells divide and how evolution works, but they do not also take courses in physics or engineering or medicine or business administration. Most people who study literature learn about Shakespeare and Emily Dickinson but not about evolutionary psychology or neuroscience or economics.
A polymath is different from an expert in that the polymath knows more than one field of knowledge whereas the expert only knows one.
The modern world has changed since medieval times.
In medieval times, kings needed advisors who knew theology and philosophy and astronomy. Today kings need advisors who know economics and geology and statistics as well as theology and philosophy and astronomy. The modern world has become more complicated, so it needs more complicated advisors --polymaths--to run it.
But instead what we have is thousands of experts telling us which candidate will lower our taxes by 0 .03% while at the same time protecting us from terrorists by monitoring our emails . And all for only $99/month!
It's like hiring a bunch of plumbers when you have burst pipes all over your house…it just doesn't make any sense…
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Cheers, Cristi
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