I feel this question is overly broad. As I take it, it means, "what should I know?"
It reminds me of the Robert A. Heinlein quote:
“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.”
A broad range of knowledge can scaffold together to reach new heights. Some knowledge that at once seemed useless can come back later (in light of other, newer knowledge) to become quite useful.
> A broad range of knowledge can scaffold together to reach new heights. Some knowledge that at once seemed useless can come back later (in light of other, newer knowledge) to become quite useful.
This is synthesis, and to feed it you have to (as you point out) have a broad range of knowledge. You don't need deep knowledge in every area, sometimes just knowing the surface is sufficient. But by having a wide enough knowledge base you can draw on those other areas when needed or make those random observations that reduce seemingly intractable problems in one domain to solved problems from another domain.
I was just thinking about this post again today and came back.
It reminded me of a quote from Steve Jobs about a calligraphy class...
“If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts.”
You never know when a skill will come in handy again until you actually need it. I remember learning how to make logos using Inkscape several years ago on a whim, and now I have used those same vector graphic skills multiple times in CAD work or making graphics for a help guide for a product.
If you're pragmatic and interested in being happy, I would recommend knowing as little as possible. If you keep learning, there's a point at which you'll know far more than a most people are capable of understanding. From that point forward, communicating with most people will become progressively more challenging and less satisfying. The finite pool of people that you can communicate with effectively will shrink. To survive in the world you'll need to actively work at dumbing your initial thoughts down to simple sentences that don't require a broad range of knowledge to understand.
If you're pragmatic and interested in being happy, I would recommend knowing as much as possible. If you keep learning, you'll be able to understand much better what motivates and hinders other people. The depth of your understanding will enable you to convey complex but practical information in everyday language. Your value as a helpful and effective teacher will be widely recognized. The most effective writers also fall in this category.
I'm sorry to say that beenBoutIT is spot on. As someone who actually values learning about a broad range of things, I find the more I learn the fewer people I can interact w/. This is because 1) it becomes more difficult to tolerate the nonsense that the avg. person is steeped in; and 2) because people aren't that interested in knowing things that contradict their imagined existence, their perception of self.
> Your value as a helpful and effective teacher will be widely recognized
Not so much. Think of it w/respect to a bell curve. Most of the people on the curve aren't going to give two hoots about learning. Of the rest, they may thirst for knowledge, but may not appreciate that someone who isn't them has what they perceive to be superior knowledge. All of this is very "interesting" to see play out when you start introducing 'variables' like age, sex, ethnicity/race, even professional titles.
And even if you are recognized as being a "helpful and effective teacher," people will not take kindly to not being able to access you on demand, for the most obvious of mundanities.
I spare everyone a religious example and go w/one of my favorite scenes from the Matrix trilogy. IIRC, in pt.II, there's the scene w/ the guy who betrays Neo and co., because he hates his life in Zion. He wants to return to 'life' in the Matrix. He's seated @ a table with a 'steak dinner and a bottle of red wine'. As he takes a bite of the steak, he mentions knowing that the steak isn't really there, but he loves thinking that it is.
I find that character to be representative of a great many people. Sure there are those who don't realize that there is a Matrix, but there are many more who are aware of it, and purposefully choose to pretend otherwise. And they don't take kindly to people saying anything that denies them that steak dinner.
So, learn for your own fulfillment with the understanding that the cost is quite high.
BTW, w/ regard to the OP, I think broad conceptual knowledge is best. Try to know a little about many things so that you can dig into subjects as needed.
Genes account for about 50% of the variance in happiness. Therefore, if you're pragmatic and interested in being happy, I would recommend knowing as much as possible about genetic engineering.
I can't comprehensively answer this question as it is very broad, but one type of knowledge that sprang to mind immediately when I read the question is knowing what you don't know.
I think after we work with something for a long time it is easy to assume we know almost everything about that thing, or at least everything that matters, even though much of the time we are only exposed to a small subsection of it. We may be very effective and knowledgeable in an area in the context of our day to day work and lose sight of how much more there may be to learn about it. This is a shame because we may be missing out on more exciting and useful knowledge in an area we care about. Remembering that there is always more to learn and recognising that we may not know as much as we think we do about something is in my opinion important and can help guide further learning decisions.
It is tempting to say "everything", but acquiring knowledge takes time, so you need to prioritize. I would recommend the following areas: (note: the order does not imply priority; I would rather recommend to do this in parallel, like get the most useful 20% of everything first and then go deeper)
* Keeping your body alive and healthy: what to eat, how to exercise properly, how to avoid diseases, how to avoid crime.
* Keeping your mind sane: how to think rationally, how to avoid mental traps (cults, scams, political mindkilling, superstition... i.e. various forms of manipulation and self-manipulation), what makes you happy and productive, how conditioning works.
* Gathering power: social skills, financial skills.
* Meta skills: how to acquire skills faster, prioritizing and managing your time...
And perhaps computer programming as a starting skill -- something that will nicely pay your bills until you become sufficiently great at the remaining skills.
I feel like when people post on Ask HN, they should describe what they've already done to answer the question. Many posts seem like the height of laziness and the SN is terrible.
Learn how to learn. I think it'll be a great investment. If you can develop a framework for yourself that will help you learn quicker and more efficiently, you'll be able to add more stuff in your "knowledge" bag. How? I'd start by googling "learn how to learn".
Chasing knowledge for its own sake, without a broader goal is ultimately useless. If it makes you feel good, go for it. If it makes you feel superior and "smarter" than others, you are just feeding your ego.
Knowledge is best used in service of a bigger goal. If you have no goal, work on that instead.
Readit News
It reminds me of the Robert A. Heinlein quote:
“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.”
A broad range of knowledge can scaffold together to reach new heights. Some knowledge that at once seemed useless can come back later (in light of other, newer knowledge) to become quite useful.
This is synthesis, and to feed it you have to (as you point out) have a broad range of knowledge. You don't need deep knowledge in every area, sometimes just knowing the surface is sufficient. But by having a wide enough knowledge base you can draw on those other areas when needed or make those random observations that reduce seemingly intractable problems in one domain to solved problems from another domain.
It reminded me of a quote from Steve Jobs about a calligraphy class...
“If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts.”
You never know when a skill will come in handy again until you actually need it. I remember learning how to make logos using Inkscape several years ago on a whim, and now I have used those same vector graphic skills multiple times in CAD work or making graphics for a help guide for a product.
> Your value as a helpful and effective teacher will be widely recognized
Not so much. Think of it w/respect to a bell curve. Most of the people on the curve aren't going to give two hoots about learning. Of the rest, they may thirst for knowledge, but may not appreciate that someone who isn't them has what they perceive to be superior knowledge. All of this is very "interesting" to see play out when you start introducing 'variables' like age, sex, ethnicity/race, even professional titles. And even if you are recognized as being a "helpful and effective teacher," people will not take kindly to not being able to access you on demand, for the most obvious of mundanities.
I spare everyone a religious example and go w/one of my favorite scenes from the Matrix trilogy. IIRC, in pt.II, there's the scene w/ the guy who betrays Neo and co., because he hates his life in Zion. He wants to return to 'life' in the Matrix. He's seated @ a table with a 'steak dinner and a bottle of red wine'. As he takes a bite of the steak, he mentions knowing that the steak isn't really there, but he loves thinking that it is.
I find that character to be representative of a great many people. Sure there are those who don't realize that there is a Matrix, but there are many more who are aware of it, and purposefully choose to pretend otherwise. And they don't take kindly to people saying anything that denies them that steak dinner.
So, learn for your own fulfillment with the understanding that the cost is quite high.
BTW, w/ regard to the OP, I think broad conceptual knowledge is best. Try to know a little about many things so that you can dig into subjects as needed.
I think after we work with something for a long time it is easy to assume we know almost everything about that thing, or at least everything that matters, even though much of the time we are only exposed to a small subsection of it. We may be very effective and knowledgeable in an area in the context of our day to day work and lose sight of how much more there may be to learn about it. This is a shame because we may be missing out on more exciting and useful knowledge in an area we care about. Remembering that there is always more to learn and recognising that we may not know as much as we think we do about something is in my opinion important and can help guide further learning decisions.
* Keeping your body alive and healthy: what to eat, how to exercise properly, how to avoid diseases, how to avoid crime.
* Keeping your mind sane: how to think rationally, how to avoid mental traps (cults, scams, political mindkilling, superstition... i.e. various forms of manipulation and self-manipulation), what makes you happy and productive, how conditioning works.
* Gathering power: social skills, financial skills.
* Meta skills: how to acquire skills faster, prioritizing and managing your time...
And perhaps computer programming as a starting skill -- something that will nicely pay your bills until you become sufficiently great at the remaining skills.
Knowledge is best used in service of a bigger goal. If you have no goal, work on that instead.