Useless Knowledge

At some point during a discussion of the War of 1812 in your high school history class, you probably wondered something that many kids wondered before you and wonder today. How is this going to help me make money?

Like it or not, most of the stuff you learned in school was a waste of time. Did you really need to read Hamlet? Did you really need to dissect that frog? Did you really need to know how to solve a quadratic equation? Would you make one penny less if you didn't know that Columbus discovered America in 1492?

I consider the fact that Sherlock Holmes was unaware that the world was round. Granted, Holmes is a fictional character, but his justification for not knowing that obvious fact was because it occupied room in his brain best reserved for knowing how to catch criminals. Such trivial facts as the earth being spherical are just a waste of time and resources.

If Sherlock Holmes strikes you as a bit idiotic on this, I will not disagree with you. The reason is because you never know when such a fact might come in handy. Plus, I believe the human mind has a finite capacity for storage, but I don't think anyone is in any danger of exceeding that capacity anytime soon. Learning something new or unnecessary is not going to squeeze out something old or useful.

Prior to 9/11, a knowledge of Arabic was a colossal fucking waste of mindpower. After 9/11, that knowledge became very valuable. You simply cannot know when such knowledge will be in high demand. Similary, such high demand skills like computer science have seen an erosion in income thanks to the internet which now allows employers to outsource to India. When you add in the constant upgrade of those skills required, a job as a welder looks pretty damn rewarding.

The value of knowledge follows the same laws of supply and demand as any other commodity. This is why your next cab might have a physics Ph.D. behind the wheel. This is also why a chef working in a kitchen can earn up to six figures a year. Supply and demand.

My best career advice is the same one you got back in high school. Strive to be wellrounded. Pursue the Renaissance Ideal. Know something about a lot of different things. Be an autodidact. An array of skills makes you way more employable. Granted, you might not ever use all that you learned, but you simply cannot know when something you know might be worth something.

Another aspect of this useless knowledge is the fact that new ideas are really recombinations of old ideas. Henry Ford got the idea for the assembly line from combining what Olds was doing at his place with what Chicago meatpackers were doing at their place. Ford decided to move the cars instead of the people, and he changed the world profoundly.

As I have pointed out before, your success in life is largely due to luck. But you can improve your odds and/or lower your risk by diversification. In hindsight, we can tell someone that they should have become a doctor or a geologist or what have you. In hindsight, I can tell you that the calligraphy class that Steve Jobs took was a very smart move. It is why we have fonts on our computers today. But I could not recommend that subject to anyone other than Steve Jobs. If you want a career as a calligrapher, I am afraid Mr. Jobs has put you out of a job.

Most highly specialized jobs are exceedingly dull. I can't think of any job outside of science or academia that requires 100% of your mental powers. Even those jobs in science or academia are full of repetitive and boring tasks like teaching classes or doing trials or what have you. Dull dull dull.

Our economy grows because of specialization and the division of labor. This is where productivity comes from. Jobs are so easy these days that people spend most of their time on the job goofing off. But that is another topic for another post. The bottom line is that specialization is easily achieved without subtracting other things from your life. Just because you drill holes in sheet metal all day doesn't mean you can't enjoy reading Proust.

Stupid people hate smart people. So, when these stupid people see someone smart not making a lot of money, they like to gloat. But you know, stupid is stupid. Being smart is valuable for its own sake. I would rather be poor and intelligent than rich and retarded. But without a doubt, being rich and smart is the way to go.

Right now, the world's richest man is Warren Buffett. This might change back to Bill Gates or Carlos Slim. But it doesn't matter because they have some of the same habits. Buffett is a reader. He reads a lot of different books on things that have no direct relation with what he does for a living. Similarly, Carlos Slim is an omnivore when it comes to knowledge. These men love to learn. They see value in it. Likewise, my hero, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, is a rich guy who is also a polymath. Earning money is merely a chore to finance what he really enjoys doing which is learning.

Money is important. It just isn't the most important thing in life. Happiness is the most important thing, and I can tell you that stupidity and happiness never meet.

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