The Unrealistic Mentality of the Modern Survivalist

[churchmouse]

"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."

-Robert A. Heinlein

Damn I love Heinlein

 

[Libertarian01]

"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."

-Robert A. Heinlein

To All,

I love Heinlein, I really do. His point on flexibility is spot on.

However, civilization is built on specialization, not flexibility. For example, take his first simple point "A human being should be able to change a diaper", such a simple thing. Yet can one (1) human being make the diaper that is to be changed completely from scratch? A modern diaper would be 100% impossible! Even a simple cotton diaper from yesteryear would mean:

#01) Find cotton seeds (on their OWN, because we aren't depending on anyone else)
#02) Clear the field
#03) Plow the field (This will of course include that one lone human being making the plow)
#03a) Mining the ore
#03b) Smelting the ore
#03c) Blacksmithing the ore into a plow (we are nigh into Nevernever land, but I'll go on)
#04) Plant the seeds
#05) Weed by hand for an entire growing season (again, we aren't counting on anyone else's chemicals or help being provided)
#06) Harvest the cotton
#07) Remove the seeds by hand (We aren't going to bother having our lone human make a cotton gin)
#08) Spin the yarn
#08a) Make a spinning wheel from scratch (I won't do a #3 again, you get the drift)
#09) Weave the yarn
#09a) Again, make the weave from scratch
#10) Cut to size (if you make the cutting tool)

I picked the first one on the list. Heaven forbid I would have chosen cook a tasty meal, or program a computer.

Flexibility is absolutely 100% critical and necessary for surviving! There is no doubt about that.

To move beyond a baseline of survival mode into some sort of growth you need a number of people to specialize. That specialization is critical to improved quality and efficiency that improves the world around each of us.

I have a very high self efficacy. I know that if I go to school to learn how to fix a car, I can then fix a car. If an electrician were to teach me, after a time I could do electrical work. If I went to medical school and were taught I could be a medical doctor. And IF I learned all of them I would NEVER be as good as a guy/gal who did that thing every day!

Specialization leads to experience in a field that becomes unmatched. If I a person does a job day in and day out they become better at dealing with the little problems that arise. They have the experience of "seeing it before" or something similar and fixing it far faster than a novice. This then creates a great deal of flexibility within that field of expertise.

Regards,

Doug