Ask Lemmy

Understanding nuance and then applying said understanding in communication with others.

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

--Robert A. Heinlein

Yeah I don't agree 100% with this author or anyone, really, but I always return to this quote when I watch the world attempting to corral the magnificent potential wonder-beings that are humans, into hyper-specialized hive-pod roles.

All the jobs out there that actually pay seem to want people who were bred and raised their entire lives for that stupidly specific role to the exclusion of all else. Humanity's versatility is our strength, and once again, the rich want to covet it while making the rest of us into specialized parts for their machines.

So my answer is "learning." A lot of people don't know how to learn new things, and stop trying, probably because their schooling failed them.

They are then frustrated easily by inconvenience, and incapable of solving problems or finding help. This is a brain gone to waste.

A lot of people pick one specialization and decide to just not learn anything else and that's the most depressing thing in the world to witness. (I met a lot of older people who just stopped learning things after what must've been highschool. Huge yikes...)

Fix things. Make things. Fail a lot. Troubleshoot. PLAY.

Try whistling. Can you snap your fingers yet? How about training your way up to a handstand, maybe? Hey, yo-yos are fun.

Don't like guns? Go learn how to safely use one anyway just for perspective. Cars? Try learning your own (simple!) repairs. Never learned to ride a bike? Best time is now!

Try planning a hangout. Join a meetup that sounds vaguely interesting. Learn how to tie knots. Learn how to stop trauma bleeding. Sew a cloak or something maybe. Teach somebody else things you know!

Don't limit yourself by your first impressions of things you've never experienced. So many people look at something and just say "I can't. I'm not that person. I won't like it probably."

Our modernization led by ruling classes has stripped us of so many experiences and then sold them back to us with admission fees. So much human potential and knowledge has been siloed away and sold back to us as "goods and services", while we're relegated to being "consumers."

Human beings were made to do a multitude of tasks, and use their strengths to cooperate to the betterment of all, not to be alienated and separated by specific specializations they aren't allowed to stray from.

Seriously, enjoy how much absolute potential you have instead of doing one thing you felt good at and being scared to try anything else.

Computers.

We have them around us every day. We carry them in our pockets every day. Our lives and all of society relies on them. People have been growing up with them, and can't imagine a life without them.

So imagine my distress at how everyone is so incredibly tech illiterate.

Bate

Being able to swim.

Was recently driving a bunch of other girls to our university maintenance class after it had poured and we came to a part of the road where it descends into a depression before fully rising back up. That day the depression was flooded, making a lagoon. The back-up road would take us an extra 30 kilometers around, so after briefly stopping, I decided to rush forward and go through the water. Every last passenger started silently panicking (silently enough I didn't notice) and one threw up out of fear, and thinking it was car sickness, I stopped the vehicle, which made everyone panic more and try to "abandon ship" because they thought the vehicle was going down and need help because it was the areas beside the road which were actually deep. And here I am thinking "this place is as wet and flood-prone as Hurricane Harbor, what have you been doing all your life that you can't swim". If someone can't, why?

How to use a lathe, compliment someone without expecting anything in return, and blend in on a city street.

If you are in the US... Learn how to drive already. The vast majority of adults are going to drive every day, and most of those are going to drive at least twice a day. The degree of competency in driving seems to fall to a new low every year.

Signals - Use them. If you don't have time to check, signal, check, maneuver, then you don't have time to make that turn/lane change. If you don't signal, you're not driving, you're just fucking around in a 2 ton death machine.

Distracted driving - it's a myth. You're either driving, or you are fucking around in a 2 ton death machine.

Turning from wrong lane/driving across onramp shoulder - know where where the fuck you are, and if you make a wrong turn, don't endanger your life, your passengers lives, and every else's on the road. A good driver rarely misses their turn, a bad driver never misses their turn. If you are cutting people off to make your ramp or turn, you're not driving, you're fucking around in a 2 ton death machine.

Frankly, I'm of the opinion that speeding should not be a primary offense. If the road is clear and some dude checking his lanes, using signals and paying attention to the road wants to drive 110 on the freeway, let him. They've never almost killed me, but idiots in cars fucking around on the road like they are the only people on the road nearly cause me an accident almost every day I drive now. I rarely get through the day without using my horn to wake up some jackass about to kill someone, and those people should get pulled over, fined, and have their behavior corrected.

Edit: Also automatic lights were a mistake and they should be banned.

You must know when to hold them, and when to fold them.

I am certain this pertains to every aspect of life, but am still figuring out exactly what to hold or fold, and when.

Cooking.

Following a recipe is a good start, and at least allows you to feed yourself beyond microwaved bullshit or going out to a restaurant. Knowing the science behind it, however, can open up new avenues to making dishes you love even if you can't get all of the usual ingredients because you will know what you can use instead without compromising the taste or texture.

Meditation. It helps with self-control, emotional regulation, stress, and builds discipline. Screen addiction is real, and meditation helps.

Polite conversation

Knowing when silence is damaging

Knowing when to shut up

Sewing

You'll save yourself so much money and time mending clothes, blankets, and doing your own mods instead of buying new things.

Emotional stability.

Try living off grid, without power, phone, internet. Heat with a wood stove, carry your water. Then reflect on your standards for life.