Cogs in the Machine

I take issue with our current economic culture. I'm not opposed to capitalism or Wal-Mart or shopping, in principle. But these have all been used as symbols of systematic cultural problems. I think it is a problem that people have only one skill, only one contribution to make to the world. They spend years specializing, through school and college and on-the-job training, in just one thing. They spend so much of their energy specializing because the most specialized person makes the most money. Then the money is spent on things they would be able to do or make themselves, if they were less specialized.

Pioneer women could knit, sew, cook, budget, plant, harvest, and more. Women were expected to have a full compliment of skills, including the ability to handle the men's responsibilities while they were absent. It was a difficult life in those days, everyone relying on the work of their own hands for survival. They didn't have the technological marvels we have in modern times to speed our work. With more time freed up these days, there are even less excuses to be inept at life skills.

Most people graduate from years of schooling without any financial literacy, an inability to patch jeans, no idea how to cook for themselves, or even eat reasonably healthy. Most depressingly, many don't even have the skill or ability to teach themselves, and thus are trapped in this state. In the words of Robert Heinlein in the book Time Enough for Love, "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."

Specialization is touted by anthropologists as the cultural evolution that made possible trade, education, art, and so many other great things. But we've come to a point of diminishing returns. The high level of specialization has left people helpless in the face of economic change, and with lower quality of life. The worst aspect of über-specialization is the feeling it gives people. The concept of the rat race, the idea that one isn't contributing to the world in any meaningful way, cube farms, bean counting. We trade the pride of our labor for a better paycheck.

So take some time to learn a new skill. Want to learn computer programing? Want to learn to cook? (Search for what you want, and sort recipes by rating). Need to learn financial literacy? Some other ideas: sewing, home repair, first aid. Check out these 200 free university classes, or try instructables.com.