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More than Average

Entry 2402, on 2025-07-02 at 15:28:43 (Rating 2, Comments)

In case you hadn't noticed, I like to write blog posts on a wide variety of topics. I also work at a university and quite enjoy discussing various esoteric subjects with the staff there as I'm fixing their computer, etc. You might ask how I can do this? Well, one possibility is that I am totally deluded and I'm talking absolute BS about all of those different subjects, but I don't think so.

My aim in recent years is this: to know more than average about everything.

Now you might think that sounds pretty arrogant, but it's not really, because the average level of knowledge is actually pretty poor, so knowing more than average isn't actually that difficult. Also, by having wide knowledge I sacrifice depth. So I don't think of myself as an expert on anything, even though I'm pretty good with computers, astronomy, and a few other subjects.

So a couple of days back I talked to a philosopher about AI. We also discussed behavioural economics and social psychology. Of course, there is no doubt that he knew a lot more than me - it is his area of specialty, after all - but I don't think what I said was totally embarrassing and I even made a couple of points he seemed to be quite impressed by.

That same day I reported a networking issue to a specialist and he also seemed impressed that I answered all of his questions, no matter how technical they were and whatever jargon he used. And also on that day I had discussions on politics, literature, and biochemistry.

I'm sorry if this sounds like I am being a bit boastful or egotistical here, because there is a reason for what I have said so far. Yes, this is going somewhere!

I think there are far too few people around nowadays who try to have knowledge on a a lot of different subjects. Especially in the university I see people who are incredibly expert at one thing but have no clues about everything else. Also, many people have highly specialised knowledge, but that means they don't have much "common sense" or ability to do everyday tasks. That's not always the case, of course, but it is common.

When commenting on-line recently I asked a company about their picture of the night sky which they posted as part of their "celebration" of Matariki. For those who don't know (which would be almost everyone outside of New Zealand) Matariki is the Maori (the original inhabitants of New Zealand) new year. Matariki is actually the Maori name for an open cluster, the Pleiades, in the constellation Taurus. When it is first visible in the early morning, just before the sun rises (what we call a "helical rising") it corresponds to a date close to the winter solstice (mid winter in the Southern Hemisphere).

So my question was: where is Matariki on this photo? Of course, as an experienced astronomer I knew exactly where it was, and it wasn't on this photo at all, because it was of the area around Sagittarius, which is on the exact opposite side of the sky.

I knew this because I have a better than average knowledge of the night sky and can recognise many star fields in the Southern Hemisphere; unfortunately, I haven't spent much time looking at the northern sky.

So that's how I knew to ask the question, next you might ask why I asked it. Well, yes, I admit: it was too embarrass the company who had clearly jumped on the Matariki bandwagon to virtue signal their support for Maori culture. But they had put the effort in to post the photo, but not enough effort to ensure it was accurate, apparently. Their knowledge of astronomy (Maori or otherwise) did not appear to be more than average!

My friend, Fred (not his real name), has mentioned problems related to a similar lack of breadth of knowledge in his work. One issue involved his organisation's computer security team, who presumably have a deep knowledge in that area. But the rules they insist others must follow to increase security are often unrealistic when other aspects of the bigger picture are considered.

For example, users must use very long passwords, which are hard to remember, so they write them on sticky notes near their screens. This increases security how? And the computers are locked down to the extent that many people cannot work as efficiently, because they lack capabilities they need. Sure, this increases security, but at what cost?

Fred thinks that if these security people had a wider knowledge of how computers are actually used they might be less restrictive in their requirements. I have pointed out that there is another possible interpretation of this: that the security people know about the other factors but it's not their job to consider them. In that case, the people further up the hierarchy who create the policies are lacking the wider knowledge, but being managers they probably don't have much knowledge of anything!

So, I think there is a need for people to have more than average knowledge on every topic, because that would be better for them, and for society in general as well. Of course, as more people follow this idea the average level will increase making the whole exercise harder, but maybe it's the pursuit of this idea that is important, not actually achieving it. It's a worthwhile aim though: knowing more than average.

Comment 1 (8246) by Ralph on 2025-07-04 at 12:02:39:

No I don't think you are being boastful as you are able to generate extremely interesting conversations except you didn't include the fact you are a very talented chef with a lot of knowledge in that direction as well. Society needs people with the courage to talk about contentous subjects in a practical manner with out getting emotional and hurt feelings.

Comment 2 (8247) by OJB on 2025-07-04 at 22:11:53:

Well, I don't claim to be a talented *chef*, although I enjoy cooking and do most of it at home, even though my wife has university qualifications in food, nutrition, and food service administration. I do "let her" do the baking though. There's too much measuring and following recipes in that for me. I prefer just to make it up as I go, but you can't generally get away with that with baking.

Comment 3 (8248) by OJB on 2025-07-04 at 22:14:01:

Also, I completely agree about the courage to say what we think. I'm actually pretty surprised I get away with as much as I do, especially not getting any push back at work (a "woke" university), where I know some people read my blog. Maybe a lot of people are scared of speaking out when they don't really need to be.

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