Why diversity matters

This article started from a statement I heard saying that the teaching system is broken because it teaches us a lot of things we don't need and we should focus on our skills/talents from very early age. In the author mind it was seen as a waste time learning things that were rarely need.

It seemed to make sense. Why bother learning other programming languages and endanger your career while not learning what you need at work?

Why writing this article

This statement bothered me because I always saw all that I learned as somehow valuable from the violin to the numerous languages natural or programming and I had to find an answer why. This answer had to make sense organically not only at the work level. All seemed to be related to diversity and why it matters and therefore the title. I don't raise any claim to be the final truth and I hope if someone finds flaws in my reasoning posts below.

The statement has certain truth but it was expressed in regards to a talent like drawing. You think you have it so you pursue it and you become a great artist. You forget about what school teaches you and you just try to be the best in that thing.

Interesting but to say that someone knows from the beginning of life or at any certain moment that something is what they want to do until the end of life does not justify to me to completely focus on that. In my view this destiny type of life is far too rare to make it as a rule. But that is not good enough as justification. Maybe there is deeper truth in this.

We are born like a blank slate

We discover the world step by step inward and outward. The two sides are like two worlds and they communicate through us as consciousness. We are the bridge that should learn to master this communication or even better conversion. This process should flow in a natural way. Sometimes is inward and sometimes is outward and sometimes is both ways. We decide that. The inner world thoughts are equivalent to the actions in the outer world. And we are the converter. We expose ourselves to the actions of the outside world. This is converted into thoughts based on our experience. This builds other thoughts that turn into actions.

This is why I find it incredible important to mastery of this conversion and this brings me to the next idea.

Thoughts and actions are tools

Both the line of thoughts as well as the sequence of actions are like structures or tools that we build to interact with these worlds.

As long as they match everything is fine but when they don't is painful and it should urge us to learn. And for this we need experience. We need to be exposed to the problem of building these tools. These tools help us propel in the outside world and discover our interior richness in the inside world.

Back in the career context, it may be that you write songs, you paint, you develop a program, you lead a team or no matter what you do you should avoid focusing on that particular thing that makes you good no matter how tempting it is. This will let you understand yourself better as well as interact with the world around you and this does not apply only to a job related skill.

If there is one thing that remains constant is focus. Sometimes we seem to need to loose focus but this is rather focusing from a different perspective, larger smaller or from a different angle. People find this disturbing as it looks as if you loose focus but this is rather focusing on the thing you need to solve which might have several aspects but it is the same problem in the end.

That is why direction of focus is not the constant the discipline of being focused is. The strength of this focus and the ability to maintain it and enhance the "conversion" between the two worlds is paramount. And all this is based and creates experience, the main thing that lets us adapt and be successful.

There will rarely be a straight line

And that is why our attitude can't be expected to be straight. Straightness is an illusion even if it looks that way. It may be only because it follows or aligns itself with a greater detail of this world. Like the straightness of the horizon which becomes curve from space.

Is this straight line proof of experience? Is one prepared when this alignment is no longer a reality? Will the experience accumulated be enough to negotiate with this change? A straight career is by no means an absolute proof of that.

Teaching system should strive for diversity

The teaching system seems to follow a different direction these days building narrow and narrower trained engineers building lots of employees of different skills and levels and teaching them little how to become something else. This also applies to personal development. I have so many known cases in which this has even brought to a stop.

And this is in a time of such technological change. There is a fear that jobs will be taken over by smarter and smarter A.I. This will no doubt happen and it is ironic because of what we "teach" the A.I. or better said where the investment is going and this is to learn faster, learn better, adapt to more diverse environment while we for ourselves try to do the opposite. We specialize for a job, try to have a straight career, be the best in your tiny field of knowledge, not waist time looking around for other skills. And this brings me to my final point.

Humans best trait is to adapt

Humans have conquered this world by adapting from hot to cold environments, from bland to lush ones and this is what we are truly good at. Therefore we should not run from diversity. Because this diversity trains this skill. I would go as far as to say we should build a system that fosters this and encourages this permanent coping with diversity.

Is job important? Sure. Should I endanger it by learning skills that are not really relevant to it? I would say experience can guide one to reply to this question. But experience is always acquired by doing something different and not by doing the same thing.

Sure the better/faster you are the higher the chances that you can get a better paid job. But how about when you can take lessons from one field and apply them in another completely unrelated? With the focus on specialization this is becoming really rare. That is why I think this is the job of the future until A.I.-s become good at it too.