Defense of the Dilettante

Narrow and deep.?

Find your true calling and dedicate the whole of your efforts to master it. Maybe good advice, but why limit yourself?

By no means do I denounce the value of deep mastery. Rather, field experts are absolutely essential components of a healthy technological machine. The such attributes and merits are fully well described elsewhere (Mastery by Robert Greene is an all-time favorite).

I've never had the kind of focus to sit with one subject for a long period of time. Attention span simply too short, focus too expensive. Fidgeting for what is next and uncomfortable at accepting what is. For years jealous of those who could.

My adaptation was turning short ferocious intensity and digging in as deep as I could across numerous topics. What depth lacked, breadth I hoped would surely supply.

In meeting others with similar experience, this is not a bad thing but a gift. There is a beauty in the disparate. Puzzle pieces with different shapes that don't appear to fit, but with context and an approximating gaze, interesting patterns can emerge.

Much technological innovation comes at interfaces, when multiple disciplines converge in unexpected ways. Ideas benefit from unfamiliar perspective to challenge assumptions and provide analogous motifs with mutual inspiration.

I always value a smart na?ve commentary, unafraid to ask "the dumb question" that can often unlock something truly profound.

Keep exploring wide-eyed and without fear of failure. Wherever whim may take you, you never know what could be around the corner.

- Jeremy