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Heinlein - Specialization is for Insects
time to read 2 min | 356 words
Note: It is 4:16AM and I am still awake, but I really want to sleep. Can't manage it.
The tag line of the blog is "Specialization is for Insects", taken from Heinlein's Time Enough For Love, the full quote is:
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.
Look at it, I think that I can measure myself:
- Change a diaper - Done
- Plan an invasion - if it is an invasion to a prison, I am your man, otherwise, the knowledge is theoretical.
- Butcher a hog - Does a chicken count? I was an assistant butcher about twelve years ago. After a while, I felt like a chicken gynecologist.
- Conn a ship - Only if it is directly to the rocks.
- Design a building - Got to sit down for that one as well.
- Write a sonnet - but only a bad one.
- Balance Accounts - Done
- Build a wall - I can also paint it, lay a roof and floor and I am a wizz with removing walls.
- Set a bone - Put it under maybe, the only chance I had was mine, and I mostly cried at the time.
- Comfort the dying - Pass
- Take orders - Done
- Give orders - Done
- Cooperate - Done
- Act Alone - Done
- Solve Equations - Not recently, and I wouldn't want to do it at gun point, but done.
- Analyze a new problem - Yes
- Pitch manure - Done, and no further comment
- Program a computer - Obvious, isn't it?
- Cook a tasty meal - I simply adore my onion & garlic omelette, with a side of cream - yummy.
- Fight efficiently - Hm, I want to say yes, but I never profiled it.
- Die gallantly - ask me again in a century or two
Comments
You know what would go good with that? A nice greens salad :)
Perhaps he meant class HumanBeing is contains all those methods? But certainly the expected behaviors in a given instance is determined by a host of properties, the values of which vary greatly with from one to another.
Then again, I would hope that some of these methods are not exposed in the base class. For example DesignABuilding should only be exposed in subclass Architect -- at least when I comes to the building I'm currently work in.
@Tim,
Mixins, not subclasses.
Just to add that Heinlein is one of my preferred authors, and that Time Enough For Love is probably my preferred book ever.
I can really appreciate that quote. Thanks for the explanation.
@Jeff
Agree. Humans acquire specialization through learning, so composition is a better metaphor than inheritance. :)
All these things are easy for Lazarus Long, as he has a bit more time to practice than most of us are allotted.
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