Specialization Nation

Are we losing the ability to empathize with one another?

            Before the Neolithic revolution every human kinda had the same job.  That is everyone was either a hunter or a gatherer.  This lifestyle left little time do anything other than look for food.  It is no surprise that we know little about this time, because there was no written language; there was no time to sit around writing much less reading.  After some chump realized if you put seeds in the ground and food pops out, it revolutionized the way we lived.  People could settle down, and stop chasing around buffalos and instead put fences around them and call 'em cows.  Since there was more food to go around and we spent less time looking for it, some folks started doing things other than food production.  We got some new jobs, like potters who made us bowls and cups, and tanners who made us stylish leather jackets.  We got some not so great things like kings, and people who argued with each other called politicians.  The point is we started specializing in doing other things.  

            Eventually we had people thinking up new ways to do stuff.  These inventors helped society learn how to build wagons, forge metal, and brew beer.  Many of these thinkers were brilliant beyond one area of invention or science.  For example the Greek genius Archimedes invented new ways of pumping water AND killing people.  Or take for example Leonardo da Vinci, who while creating masterpiece works of art found time to invent an ancient calculator among other things.  We eventually got around to creating a new word for these men who seemed to know everything, we called them Renaissance men.  It was even upheld as an ideal to strive for.  Many of the American founders are considered to be Renaissance men because of their broad spectrum of knowledge.  Today, in our specialized world the Renaissance man is considered to be a thing of the past.

            After all the inventions, wars, and civilizations, human society and life still hadn't changed much between the advent of agriculture and the American Revolution.  The majority of people still spent most of their time farming.  Horseback was still the fastest way to get around.  This all changed after the dawn of machinery.  Now instead of the plow and the ox, people started using machines like tractors to farm the land.  This meant that famers could grow more, and tend larger farms.  This ultimately liberated the majority of humans from the fields and allowed even more people the time to do things other than produce food.  In today's industrialized world less than five percent of the people actually farm.

            With more people doing things other than farming, society had enough people to specialize even further.  Instead of a tailors we had factory workers.  Eventually factory workers had very specific jobs, such as putting the "knick" on the "knack."  And even factories specialized into niches, so instead of a factory making a whole car a factory might make only the seats for the car.  This idea of "hyper-specialization" even found its way into academia.  So instead of having a natural philosopher we had scientist.  Then instead of having just a scientist we had specialized scientist like biologist.  Eventually we had specialized specialist like microbiologist.  Even education was carved up into segments.  Instead of one teacher, a child would have 7 and each would teach a different subject such as math, science, and history.  Since all production had turned into some mindless hyperspecific job in a factory, teaching children skills fell out of favor.

            Now I am not saying the specialization of society is bad, in fact I think the unprecedented standard of living we enjoy is a result of it.  But, it is important to realize that life was not always like this.  We also must realize that the "hyperspecialization" of society is creating new problems that are going unrecognized.  

            Modern people work a lot.  People spend most of their waking time at their jobs.  So it would not be a stretch to say that your profession and what you do all day can shape your perception of the world.  In the past when the majority of people were farmers, most everyone basically had the same world view.  In the 21st century there are a growing number of different types of jobs.  With these new types of jobs comes with it new perspectives on the world.  It is not hard to see that a professional football player wouldn't have a lot in common with a computer programer.  The problem with this is that it is difficult to empathize with one another if we cannot relate with the struggles others go through from day to day.

            Let me give an example of how we lack empathy today from some experiences in my life.  

 Most of the jobs I have had have been working for the public.  I have worked at a gas station, a movie rental place, a sports store, and as a paramedic.  Working for the public can be frustrating because people can be hard to please, and everyone has different preferences.  Another problem is that a lot of people will take their frustrations out on the guy behind the cash register or the waiter at the restaurant.  Needless to say working for the public is hard.  I have found that being around friends who have worked for the public are generally nicer to cashiers and waiters.  I have also found that people who are rude to waiters and cashiers have most times than not never worked at a job where they served the public.

            Specialization in academia has created an environment of  tension between professors of different areas of specialization.  The humanities professors cannot stand the economics professors.  To the humanities professor, society is about emotions, and connections between people.  To the economic professor, society is about cold calculating self-interest.  Natural scientist collide with philosophers.  Natural scientist believe that if something cannot be observed nor measured it cannot be believed, and they also reject subjectivity.  The philosophers on the other hand point out that you cannot subjectively observe or measure anything ever, and question the foundations of verificationism which itself cannot be verified.

            If we are looking to the political world we see one that is becoming increasingly contentious.  Add the diverse number of perspectives created by specialization with religious and social stratification and you end up with a whole lot of people who don't see eye to eye.  

            So what can we do?  how do we fix this?  I really don't know.  I once believed the internet would become a platform where people came together to work out their differences.  It is, however, becoming apparent this is not the case.  Online communities segregate into groups that isolate themselves from ideas and people that challenge their cognitive biases.  If anything the web is increasing the cognitive stratification of society.  I also believe through art like novels, movies, and video games we can expose people to the perspectives of others.  But with the commercialization of media, movies and games have become more about explosions and gore than story.  Though there are exceptions to this rule, I might expand upon that in another blog sometime.

If we are to ever heal the growing fault lines in our society it is to be through learning to listen to others and understanding where they are coming from.