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Versatile Man
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It is, perhaps,
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no accident that many of the outstanding figures of the past
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were exceptionally versatile men.
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Right up until comparatively recent times,
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it was possible for an intelligent person
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to acquaint himself with almost every branch of knowledge.
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Thus, men of genius like Leonardo da Vinci or Sir Philip Sidney,
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engaged in many careers at once as a matter of course.
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Da Vinci was so busy with his numerous inventions,
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that he barely found the time to complete his paintings;
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Sidney, who died in battle
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when he was only thirty-two years old,
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was not only a great soldier,
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but a brilliant scholar and poet as well.
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Both these men came very near
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to fulfilling the Renaissance ideal of the “universal man”,
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the man who was good at everything.
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Today, we rarely, if ever,
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hear that a musician has just invented a new type of submarine.
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Knowledge has become divided and sub-divided into countless,
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narrowly-defined parts.
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The specialist is respected;
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the versatile person, far from being admired,
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is more often regarded with suspicion.
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The modern world is a world of highly-skilled “experts”
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who have had to devote the greater part of their lives
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to a very limited field of study
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in order to compete with their fellows.
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With this high degree of specialization,
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the frontiers of knowledge are steadily being pushed back
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more rapidly than ever before.
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But this has not been achieved without considerable cost.
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The scientist,
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who outside his own particular subject is little more than an idiot,
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is a modern phenomenon;
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as is the man of letters who is barely aware of the tremendous strides
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that have been made in technology.
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Similarly,
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specialization has indirectly affected quite ordinary people
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in every walk of life.
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Many activities which were once pursued for their own sakes,
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are often given up in despair:
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they require techniques,
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the experts tell us,
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which take a life-time to master.
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Why learn to play the piano,
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when you can listen to the world’s greatest pianists
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in your own drawing-room?