"Specialization is for Insects"

The late Robert A. Heinlein, a prolific and influential American science fiction writer, philosopher, and political activist, must have been a Renaissancian! Competence and well-roundedness were often reflected in his heroes and heroines. One of Heinlein's characters, Lazurus Long, gives a good summary of the requirements in Time Enough for Love: "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, balnce 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."