this post was submitted on 08 Apr 2026
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Overachiever?
Multitasking
Ah, yeah, the meme certainly could have used another point of comparison. I mean, a lot of polymaths are good multitaskers and can get more done because of that, but it's not inherent to being a polymath.
I think the better comparison would have been multi talented or multi skilled in this context.
To be fair, back then they knew orders of magnitude less stuff. The span of their knowledge was comparable to, like, a modern middle schooler. Super impressive don't get me wrong, but this was back when you could just learn basically everything humanity knew about a subject like "chemistry" if you had a reasonable amount of free time and gumption.
I could name every Pokemon back in 1998, I think a lot of people could, or at least get most of them. That's a different feat today. Don't compare yourself to past polymaths too much.
I mean, it's more like comparing oneself to present polymaths, who are similarly impressive except for the "contributing new knowledge" thing.
Explanation: Altair ibn Rashdun was a Persian polymath who, in 737 published the book : Kitab Al İfrit, Salaam Takvim, which was the first written discovery of me making this shit up.
Had me for the first 3/4s, ngl
you gotta learn some arabic/turkish. "Kitab Al İfrit, Salaam Takvim" is basically "The book of fire spirits, hello/greeting calendar". I'm trying to imply "trolling" with the "fire spirits" part.
EDIT : also I didn't want to be blatant and just use 777, but 737 is a commercial airliner model
To me, you're more impressive than the guy you made up
I feel appreciated, thank you
That Persian guy also couldn't multitask because basically nobody can multitask well. He got good at all of those things by doing one thing at a time.
Also, it was much less things. A well educated person nowadays probably has more general knowledge than he had.
What a terrible missed opportunity to make money for shareholders
Ah, yes, grrr, capitalism bad
Typically these sorts of polymaths were supported in their discoveries by patrons (wealthy merchants or nobles), the state (an inbred king who likely attained the position by murder), the church (which might also be the state), or their own family (who were wealthy merchants or nobles). And then their discoveries were basically completely unknown to common people, since most people couldn't read.
Put down your phone and step away from all screens and see how much bandwidth your mind has
Funny, until now, I never noticed that troglodytes had well-trimmed beards.
There's a plaque somewhere in Dublin that said "Blah blah blah lived here; scientist, engineer, financier, manager..." For like 20 professions. As it happens, their son became a famous poet, can't remember the name right now, and he made his own plaque right below it, which said "Blah blah blah Jr lived here; author, poet, wit."
I couldn't help but feel that one of them was dramatically more successful than the other.
Comparison is the thief of joy
Meanwhile ignorance is bliss, I'm dumb as shit, and happier than a pig in muck