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Poll: Would you like to know a little about a lot, or a lot about a little?

F

Flyback

Golden Member
Growing up I was always looked down on because I would rather do math and program (I started programming around 9 years old) over anything else. My father always tried to get me interested in fixing cars, to learn how appliances work so I could fix them, to know how to paint a house and renovate it and so on.

Personally I'd rather pay someone to fix it and be done with it so that I can focus on things that challenge me. The amount of time it takes to learn about how to perform these repairs is not worth it if you earn a reasonably good wage these days IMO. I understand if you do it because you love such tasks, but unless your appliances break very often then the savings are not greater than what you'd kick out to a specialist.

While this is my attitude about general tasks and "manly" things, I take the same stance in academics and profession.

I'm not saying that you should be completely inept--you can have common sense in life and still do a few things extremely well. Do you desire that, or would you rather live the average and balanced life knowing a little about many topics?
 
It isn't hard to learn about fixing things. When something breaks, you learn to fix it, one problem at a time, and that knowledge adds up. Take cars for example. I knew nothing about cars until the alternator died on my truck. Then the starter went. A couple of those later and I was getting the hang of the oil changes and the fluid levels and swapping out a battery and all those maintenence things. Then the head gasket blew and I had to take the whole thing apart, piece by piece. Now I'm pretty confident when looking under the hood of a car.

People can know a lot about a little and a good amount about other stuff too. It all depends on your love of knowledge. For someone who claims to be an academic you sure don't show much interest in learning.
 
I guess it depends on what the topic is that you know a lot about. I wouldn't really care to know a lot about say plumbing for example, but if I was an expert at something like network security, then at least I'd have a greater potential to make more money.
 
Neither - I learn what I want to learn. I don't care if things are manly, or how much someone with a certain skill gets paid. If something interests me, I'll go more in depth.
 
I know a lot about a few things...namely computers, photography, and headphones...then there are things I don't know jack squat about like...sports... 😛 such a nerd!
 
I have both, but if I could only have one, I'd like to know a little about a lot. It's easier to build from there.
 
How about both? I know a lot about some things and a little about others. I have rebuilt a 67 mustang, but i have written and optimized basic code that approximates a gradient from a vector of partial derivatives for starters, among a whole host of other science/stats/neuro/CS things.
 
Some of the posters here seem to think they know everything about everything, so they probably can't grasp the concept of the poll question. 😛 🙂

Personally, I love to learn all I can about all sorts of things. I prefer to have a great depth of knowledge in areas that are important to me, and at least some knowledge in other areas. Since I'm capable of reading, and I have lots of resources available to me (including this internet thingy), it's not that difficult to achieve both goals.
 
I have always been a jack of all trades, and master of none. It is satisfying, but not profitable. Anyone that wants to be a financial success must specialize.
 
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