Following our previous posts (‘How Learning Approaches Must Be Different in Complexity: Upending the 10,000 h Rule‘) let’s continue our exploration of the excellent book ‘Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World‘ by David Epstein. Beyond putting in question traditional learning techniques, and more generally pointing out the limits of specialization, he makes the point that in an increasingly automated world, the generalists that have a broad integrating picture are the ones that will be in demand.
“The more a task shifts to an open world of big-picture strategy, the more humans have to add“. “The bigger the picture, the more unique the potential human contribution. Our greatest strength is the exact opposite of narrow specialization. It is the ability to integrate broadly.” Reference is made here to open-ended games or infinite games compared to closed or finite games that are won by specialists (refer to our post ‘How Important It Is to Distinguish Between Finite and Infinite Games‘)
Therefore, “in open ended real-world problems we’re still crushing the machines.” This distinction between simple and complex, open and closed problems is really essential in defining the approaches that are needed and the competencies required.
Human’s strength is the capability to decide in complex open-ended problems, and this is what we need now to put emphasis on in terms of education, career and recognition.
