Although I have a degree of expertise in a handful of areas, on balance I'm a generalist with a wide range of interests. I'm also an avid reader which, together, has allowed me to become familiar with a variety of fields. While I find these varied interests intellectually stimulating, I also find them quite useful.
For a long time I have been a strong believer of the Medici Effect, the combination of concepts from disparate fields to generate creative new solutions. As any fan of James Burke's "Connections" series knows, much of mankind's progress is due to seemingly haphazard interactions.
In my own efforts to solve complicated problems, I often draw analogies between different subjects. In some cases,these analogies help me to better visualize or comprehend the system under study. In other cases, the analogies help identify potential solutions. In either case, I frequently find that already having a catalog of general knowledge greatly accelerates the process by avoiding the need for exhaustive research. Instead, once the connections are made I can usually proceed directly to reviewing or learning the technical details needed to refine and implement a solution.
As alluded to above, I am not alone in my generalist approach. One of my favorite quotes is Louis Pasteur's "fortune favors the prepared mind" which I think indicates that he felt the same way. More recently, Eric Drexler summarized the benefit of "understanding everything" as follows:
It takes far less knowledge to recognize a problem than to solve it, yet in key respects, that bit of knowledge is more important: With recognition, a problem may be avoided, or solved, or an idea abandoned. Without recognition, a hidden problem may invalidate the labor of an hour, or a lifetime. Lack of a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.Indeed, well said Eric.
