Specialization Is For Insects
Robert Heinlein’s notorious list of things a human being should be able to do. Actually, this was originally spoken by "Lazarus Long, the universe’s oldest living human" in Heinlein’s 1973 novel Time Enough For Love, but it seems to fit with much of Heinlein’s own philosophy. The version of the list that does the rounds apparently also omits one item from the original – "have sex with your mother" for reasons that don’t really require elucidation.
There’s some debate about whether the list is something a single human being should be able to do, or something a population of humans should be able to do. (See http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/48658, for example.)
It’s also questionable whether the frontier mentality embodied in this quote is, or should be, applicable to modern societies. But it’s interesting, if you don’t take it too seriously.
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