Musings on Specialization and Self-Sufficiency in the Modern World
Every once in a while I come across a quote that makes so much sense I can’t get it out of my head. Sometimes it reveals a new truth or illuminates a long-held one. Other times it makes good and plain something so logical, so sensible, so obvious that it’s like a slap upside the head. Such was my impression of this Robert A. Heinlein quote mentioned by a commenter on Mike Eades blog: “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.”
I’m not intimately familiar with Mr. Heinlein’s work (although I read Stranger in a Strange Land and there is some dual meaning with my choice of Grok as our main character), but this quote has been on my mind for the last few months. It stands on its own, I think, for pondering the force of specialization in our society and individual lives.
The fact is, specialization is as much a product of the Neolithic Age as farming was. Ten thousand years ago we started eating new things but we also saw a major revamping of social structure and human labor. Hunter-gatherers (ancient and present) knew nothing of specialization. It’s inevitable that some folks in a band were better at certain things than others, but subsistence (and all the other basic necessities and pastimes of life) was the stuff of community obligation. Everyone contributed at some point or, well, you better go find yourself some other band to take advantage of.
As band oriented as hunter-gatherers were, they were uncompromising individualists of a unique sort. (This interest in personal autonomy is a common reason many current hunter-gatherers stick with their foraging lifestyle instead of joining the surrounding agricultural and urban settings.) There was flux in hunter-gatherer band structure. People often came and went with the formation or dissolution of mating relationships, a falling out with other members, or with the natural shifts of seasonal resources. Not everyone moved among groups, of course, but it happened. As long as you were fully and actively engaged in the band’s survival and community while you were there, it worked out for everyone.
This flux as well as the inherent risk of hunter-gatherer life meant no one could afford to put all his/her eggs in one basket. If a band had one person who made spearheads, they were pretty much screwed if that person up and left one day to marry the beauty in the next band over or if he got torn apart by a hungry predator. It was crucial that each individual know the skills of survival – hunting strategies, terrain familiarity, plant cataloging, shelter construction, weather reading, cooking, child rearing, etc. They knew it as necessity and embraced it as cultural value.
Enter the Neolithic Age, with its focus on settled life, stored supplies, and larger, denser communities, and you have the start of a whole new ball game. Suddenly they were feeding and protecting a pretty massive group of people (relatively speaking for their time). Human social structure needed roles it never did before. Enter specialization. As Matt Ridley writes in The Agile Gene, we’ve been in a spiral ever since – a continuing interdependent cycle “whereby specialization increases productivity, which increases prosperity, which allows technological invention, which further increases specialization.” Is the result progress? Yes and no – no and yes? Ridley quotes Robert Wright: “‘Human history involve[s] the playing of ever more numerous, ever larger and ever more elaborate non-zero-sum games.’” That’s one way to look at it.
Anthropologist Walter Goldschmidt suggests our shift from hunter-gatherer life and settlement in large communities has changed the way we fulfill our need for what he calls “affect hunger,” the genetically based instinct we have to seek and create connection with others. For adults, Goldschmidt suggests, this hunger plays out two ways – “by belonging and by performance.” The Neolithic Revolution and resulting specialization tipped the scale toward performance, he says. Our “peer group” is no longer our intimately known and reciprocally committed band members. It’s more our “occupational colleagues.” I enjoy and value my staff to be sure, but I don’t know how I feel about that idea….
Is all this a “zero sum game,” as Wright suggests? I don’t know about the sum totals themselves. On the one hand, I’m grateful for the innovation and variety that specialization has made possible. Yet, I also ponder what’s been lost.
The last two hundred years alone has ushered in mechanization and whole new layers of career specialization. We’re definitely rewarded these days for specializing – for finding (or creating) a niche so tight and rare – that we can soak it for all its worth. Sure, it’s good business practice – and for some lucky individuals their ultimate passion. I don’t begrudge people their innovation and right to earn a living the best way they know how. I do wonder if the larger cultural force, however, undermines something of individual well-being.
In the 19th Century, John Ruskin wrote about the difference between the traditional artisans who in part designed the structures they built and the “modern” masons whose job it was to lay bricks in the same uniform pattern. We’ve lost something of that autonomy – often on an individual basis and largely on a cultural level. Not to stand in the way of progress, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say something about it gives me pause.
It’s not just about our professional endeavors of course. Our ancestors and even grandparents practiced life skills and arts that are quickly going the way of specialization. For better and worse, we outsource many of the chores and talents that they did as routine. On the one hand, we can say it has freed us up to make other choices with our time. Except, I remember my older relatives having plenty of personal hobbies, and I’m not sure we really have (or at least recognize) much more free time than our grandparents did decades ago.
As for my own lifetime career picture, I’ve never designed and built a gothic church like Ruskin’s artisans, but I’ve had my share of variety. More than that, however, I’ve never felt hemmed in by my then-present job. Whatever I was doing for money at the time, I was always pursuing (by interest or flat-out necessity) other endeavors at home. I painted houses in my early days. I designed and made my own clothing for a while, made much of the furniture in my house at one point, acted as my own attorney (successfully), repaired my own cars, and built a restaurant (including the design and construction of a 60 foot salad bar that was refrigerated from underneath).
For me, everything I have done work-wise (or otherwise) has been a lesson in self-sufficiency as well as self-improvement. Although I occasionally cursed a few of the projects at the time, I love to look at my life now with the knowledge that there’s very little I couldn’t do if I really put my mind to it.
Sure, I also learned that I don’t love doing some of these things even though I can do them. It’s helped me prioritize my life and finances. Would I rather use my limited spare time building or fixing something as an expression of self-sufficiency or creativity? Sometimes. Or would I rather buy it or pay someone to fix it and then be in a position to use my time to play or do nothing simply because I now value that higher? Oftentimes, yes. That said, I’m not going to pay $9 for a mediocre serving of paleo jerky. I’m going to make it myself because, well, I like the result better and appreciate the fact I can do it for a fraction of the cost. Sometimes it’s about principle. Other times, it’s about simple preference. Good jerky, after all, is nothing to shake a stick at.
However, there are bigger themes here, I think. What does self-sufficiency mean to us? Although few of us would choose to make our lives alone in the wilderness, what about the pride and self confidence that comes with being able to do a whole mess of things – being a Jack or Jane of many trades or talents? Is that one of the (many) things that is leaving us feeling empty or unfulfilled in this age? How important is it to feel we can handle any situation life throws at us? A flat tire? A broken circuit or blown fuse or stopped toilet or downed Internet connection? A garden full of vegetables to be stored? A home full of children who need to be fed and clothed and cared for on a shoestring? A roof that needs replaced or a door that needs to be hung? How about a broken marriage, a lost job, an empty bank account? I’m wandering here, but I like the idea of an inner peace and calm that comes from being confident that we can handle anything and knowing that we are wired to be self-sufficient. As with many of CW’s messages, we can too often get caught up in the pattern that tells us we should just give in and specialize, be content and productive within set roles. Maybe it’s just the contrarian part of me coming out.
I guess in my world, this underscores the value of a true “liberal arts” and life education – which can start from formal education (e.g. college) but can also begin – and in either case – most richly unfolds within living itself, the design of one’s personal efforts, followed interests, and creative initiative. For my part, I’d say this. One fine day when I have my own grandchildren, I want to have a whole host of tricks up my sleeve – never ending activities, stories, and how-tos. If they want a treehouse, I like the fact I’ll have the knowhow – and the energy – to build it for them.
Thanks for reading today, everyone! Let me know what you think about specialization. When you look back on the things you’ve done in life (for money or love), what thoughts/lessons come to mind? How have certain jobs or hobbies changed you in ways only they could have?
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Posted By: Mark Sisson
This is the smartest group of bloggers I’ve run across in a long time.
I completely understand your point but you may be missing another one.
I grew up in a single parent home. Mom had severe learning disabilities and there wasn’t anyone else to count on for help. Professionals don’t work for free.
In my world, if you couldn’t do it, it didn’t get done. If you needed something and couldn’t figure it out, you couldn’t have it.
I don’t feel sorry for myself, and we certainly weren’t living in a post-apocalyptic situation.(Unless you count the death of my father as an apocalypse) Just in a place where the best resource I had was between my ears. A position any one of us could be in tomorrow.
I say live your life, have fun, and learn all you can about everything.
I’m still trying to find someone to teach me to weld!LOL
I love this post! I am continuously trying to challenge myself to grow new skills –some for the heck of it, some for my own self-sufficiency. I am in a bike maintenance class right now, learned CPR/First Aid last week, am experimenting in the kitchen, writing, sewing, pushing boundaries.
For me this continual growth is essential. It gives me satisfaction knowing I can take care of myself and that life will continue to be new and worth exploring. that being said, I am much more confident and have more energy and desire to expand my experience and skill set ever since I went Primal/Paleo 13 months ago. They go hand in hand.
Thanks, Mark–this was such great timing!
That was a great read! Specialisation is indeed successful in the modern age and will continue to be for a long time I suspect.
In my circle of friends most are “specialisation creatures” some live in muli-million dollar houses, others are more modest but most pay for ALL their goods and services – even the cleaning of their own bbqs are done by someone else in most cases.
They scoff at me and poke fun at my quest for self sufficiency (but they still love me as their friend) and enjoy the free jerky or home-grown vegetables/fruit I give them.
Yes, specialisation works but those of us who strive for self sufficiency are never envious of those who outsource to save themselves a little time. Why outsource if you can do it yourself – even if you do have plenty of money?
That Heinlein quote is one of my and my husband’s favorites! It’s so true, I wish more people would embrace the philosophy.
It seems to me that with specialization, what you end up with is almost a cult of “expertism” which allows folks to stop thinking for themselves. If folks would just think for themselves, all the specialization on the planet wouldn’t be detrimental. Thinking. Too many people have stopped!
I think I have to agree wholeheartedly with that quote. When I went to university, I was exposed to so many different new things, it was hard to make up my mind about what I wanted to graduate with. And that’s just the thing, we are capable of going so many different ways, of choosing so many different paths, and the best part is, some paths run right beside each other, so when you learn one thing, you find out about something else and you want to learn about that.
I eventually graduated with a BA in psychology and history and had a job I loved in a library. When I made the decision to move to a small village to live with my (now) fiance I had to leave the library and got a job at a credit union. Total 180. I hate math and have no interest in money, but I guess my point is that we are capable of learning and doing whatever we have to do in order to survive.
Awesome as always Mark. This topic is something I’ve been thinking about myself recently, but couldn’t quite figure out how to put into words. Now I don’t have to.
Mark and Paleo friends:
A read worth investing in- Paul Shepard, “Welcome Home to the Pleistocene” and of course any Wendell Berry book. They expand on these issues of humans over the past 10,000 years, moving from being generalists to specialists. And how this has created just about everything detrimental to our species.
The enrichment in my life, comes from all the other things I do before and after my “specialized” job, and more importantly the relationships I nurture. Spouse and I built our little abode with our own two hands, and while it wasn’t always fun, we know every square inch of this bungalow. After years of fast paced breakneck pursuit of more, bigger, better… we scaled back and returned to a simpler, slower pace of life without so much external stuff. That leaves us with more time and energy to build the treehouse, sandbox, and goKarts for the grandkids. More time to cook from scratch, walk in the woods, read a good book.
Specialization certainly has some drawbacks, one of which is that most people think they “need” more “stuff” than they actually do. I think in Grok’s day, wealth and success was measured by how much one could contribute to the well being of the band, how much one could give away. Our modern counterparts seemed to have flipped that.
I really love this post. This is what I actually try do, however, there is a bit more to it.
Grok was self-sufficiency, but he also relied on a self-sufficiency tribe to help him out when he was to ill, to young, old, or pregnant to be self-sufficiency.
I think it gives you the extra good feeling if you know how to help yourself and also know that your family and friends can do so as well and you can rely on them.
Michael
Great post as always Mark. This drive to move beyond specialization is what inspired me to “reclaim” the label “dilettante”. It is often used to describe someone who isn’t very good at anything, but I love the original meaning of a “devoted amateur”. I am a professional at few things, but I am devoted to being a competent amateur at a whole lot more!
Mark, I have a question for you. Does a hardcore primal lifestyle change one’s emotional mood? As a hardcore paleo guy (four years)I’ve noticed my emotional tenor has changed…as in I have little or no emotional states at all…I’m a Vulcan now…I’m aware of this because my current profession (filmmaker) requires me to find and create emotional states. My stoic state is not conductive to my work. So, I’m wondering does paleo lead to a stoic state? And can one be stoic and still create emotional works of art? Maybe a primal aesthetic needs to be formulated.
Such a timely post for me! I’ve been pursuing a life of self-sufficiency by way of homesteading for the better part of a decade. Sadly, pursuing and achieving are two different things… =/ I taught myself how to knit 2 years ago (thank you, YouTube!), I can change my own tire (and oil, spark plugs, brake calipers…), and hem my own pants, but if I were caught in the wilderness I’d probably die of exposure, starvation, or toxicity from eating the wrong thing. While I agree that specialization has become something of a necessary “evil” in our time (medical practitioners come to mind), there is a much greater need for the population at large to know how to take care of itself when the need arises. This post reinforces my stance on that point, and makes me more determined to learn the “old” ways. Thanks Mark, keep ‘em coming!
awesome
Walden! Grid out! Grok on!
This is my FAVORITE post! Very thought provoking, in a good way: what else might I add to my continuing self-education, and why? As someone who works in higher ed, and can cover the sonnet to programming gamut, I often feel woefully out of touch with the ‘real skills’ of life. We just purchased a cabin with the exact intention of relaxation via activities we don’t do in the city: sleep in pure darkness, see the stars, have my daughter know how to handle various critters etc. Our to-learn list is long…
One of my heroes, Buckminster Fuller, championed the ‘generalist’ perspective by terming it as being ‘comprehensivist’. He said if God had meant us to be specialists, we would have one eye as a microscope and the other a telescope.
Your thoughts coincide with a recent ‘rant’ I ensued on my blog a few days ago on the topic of self-sufficiency vs. community and how we have become so specialized and dependent on field experts- and have lost the original purpose of community. Thank you for your insight and a well-written article.
Man, I love these ‘pondering posts’ the best of all! I never knew Mark had a restaurant by the way. If I had a primal restaurant, I’d offer a 10% discount to people wearing vibrams. I’d call it… wait for it… the five finger discount *G*
Specializing in primal movement is both an elegant and grimy endeavor; brutal but gentle.
The “no one left to make spearheads” lamentation does not provide a lesson about “ensuring that you and others understand the basics of .” What such historical anecdotes help to explain is the lamentably primitive nature of societies which for whatever reason lack adequate freedom of trade among disparate families & communities.
Here are some good links:
http://c457332.r32.cf2.rackcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/audio/books/I-Pencil-Full.mp3 (audio file)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0gGyeA-8C4&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PLD880105F3253D6D3
I grew up on a farm and can do most things myself, fix cars, build things, etc. However I also realise the importance of specialisation or the division of labour. It is what makes our lives better. If we all did everything ourselves we would indeed be truly living the paleo lifestyle. Specialisation is crucial to us having modern houses, mobile phons, computers, and internet and websites. It would not be possible to have our way of life without it. I still service my own car, build furniture and grow fish/veges in my aquaponics system, all to save money and eat well. We need a balance.
The next time you board an airplane, you better hope the engineers who designed it were intensely specialized…
There is a limit to the jack-of-all-trades mentality.
Outstanding post, Mark. I think you have nailed the Achilles heel of our modern society. Just as we have experienced a tech bubble, a real-estate bubble – scenarios where growth outpaced it’s own sustainability due to a flawed model – we will eventually find ourselves in the midst of a humanity bubble. The current model of specialization and consumption is not sustainable in the long run.
Those of us who have embraced the Primal lifestyle, especially those who have gone all the way in learning hunting, gathering, surviving in nature, will have a leg up if and when the time comes to turn to that lifestyle for survival.
Not meaning to sound like a EOTWAWKI survivalist nut ( I am not), but should the threads of society begin to unravel due to unsustaianable demand for the limited resources, specialization will no longer be an advantage, and simple survival as a family or band will be the order of the day. No need for a fast internet connection and cell service when your primary concern is finding food for your family in the absence of currently taken-for-granted services.
I am going to print Mr. Heinlein’s quote and post it in my office – I mean cave
-Mark
Great post, Mark. The ones I love most are ones like this – musings on big issues (not that I don’t like the nutritional nitty-gritty, too).
One of the most significant things I learned from my father was the value of learning to do things yourself. He has all these great tools in the basement, and can do a lot of home repairs himself, but he didn’t grow up with it. Once, I asked him how he learned it all. He told me that any time the house needed a repair, he’d compare the cost of buying the tools to the cost of hiring someone to do it. As long as the tools weren’t significantly more expensive, he bought the tools, educated himself, and invested the time. I think of that almost any time I teach myself a new skill, particularly a practical one.
What I find most significant about it, I think, is that it illustrates how learning self-sufficiency can be, counter-intuitively, a great tool for building community and relationships with others.
A good general attitude, but unless we return to hunter gathering, specialization is iinevitable. In others words, I agree, but add, don’t overstate the case and begin to sound like a survivalist waiting for the collapse of civilization. It is unlikely that you can find a competent neurosurgeon who can also repair cars, design bridges, fly a jet liner…etc. Robert Heinlein was very inclined to grandiose declarations which faded in the light of careful analysis..Still his declarations are worth discussing– the declarations of Heinlein the survivalist, not those of Heinlein the not so very crypto fascist.
Interesting take. If a majority of selective pressures were abrogated since the agro/neolithic revolutions insofar as human nutrition and genetic expression, couldn’t the same be said for society? What of psychological concepts identity and liberty? How do denser and more populous modern tribes manifest those concepts differently?
Unfortunately, I think this is basically romantic claptrap. If we seriously pursued self-sufficiency, or seriously abandoned specialization, we would quickly reduce the global population to pre-neolithic populations. Specialization and trade are the keys to abundance, period.
That said, specialization brings its own problems, and I’m not an advocate of blindly accepting specialized production (know your farmer). But romanticizing about this is basically possible only for people who have already absorbed the benefits of the very specialization that they bemoan.
Here’s a very interesting blog post by an economist – http://cafehayek.com/2009/04/gifted-in-nepal.html. I think that the Paleo/Primal community could use a good dose of economic understanding.
One of the great things about the internet is that it really can help to facilitate self-sufficiency. Learning a skill these days can be as easy as finding a tutorial online to get you started.
Obviously the internet is a two-edged sword, but it’s all in the choices you make. You can use Youtube to look at cat videos all day, or you can use it to learn how to poach an egg, check your oil or play guitar. Oh well, my two cents chucked. Be sure to use your browser to learn how to do something cool before you get up