In Defense of Polymaths

Isn’t this normal? After all, no writer can be expected to cover every topic. In an age of disaggregation, we should read from experts instead of casual polymaths.

Organizations, industries, and the economy need both generalists and specialists. And when we lack the right balance, it creates problems.

Not only is specialisation becoming a redundant method of understanding truth, it is also a poor strategy for survival – whether for the individual, an organisation, a society or indeed an entire species. Simply put, then, Homo sapiens run the severe risk of perishing within the next two centuries unless the mind is reconditioned to allow for a van

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We are aware of the stigma that a polymath is a ‘jack of all trades and a master of none’. But there is an older expanded version, ‘A jack of all trades is a master of none, but often better than a master of one’. So many of the great innovations in the arts and sciences arose when outside wisdom was brought to bear on a discipline that had become

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