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Comment by welanes | Hacker News Reader

> BTW, anyone know a good word for this attitude?

Got you, brah -

Dilettantism: a person having a superficial interest in an art or field of knowledge without investing the usually required effort. See also: dabbler.

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polymyth?

Just plain polymath will do fine, seeing as the last time anyone could make legitimate claim to this title was probably 500 years ago.

I agree with you in principle that they're rather rare. But there's been a few in that time-span.

The most recent that comes to mind? Read about Bruce Dickinson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Dickinson

Reading that I see musician who did a solo album and some other bands, common, who flys planes... common in actors, and is an entrepeneur.. in beer (food), all super common for someone who has made money.

I don't see a broad range here, this sounds super common, how much crap does Michael Jordan or John Travolta have in common with this guy.

I don't see: patents, masters degrees (not too hard), charities, news articles, really anything that shows he's able to just pick up anything quickly.

Buckminster Fuller?

What about someone like Bill Gates? Programmer and businessman, sure but he also knows a fuck ton about infectious diseases and global politics and all kinds of other things.

A fuck ton in this case is probably less than an undergraduate (micro) biologist. Hardly a polymath unless he was producing new research in the field.

Renaissance dilletant

I was going to say "amateurish" but I think your "dilettantism" is spot-on.

Ah, what I do with programming. But I'm actually trying to gain deeper knowledge.

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