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By Muhammad Natsir Tahar
How wide would the business cards of classical scientists be if all their professions were written at once like this: mathematician, astronomer, meteorologist, geologist, zoologist, botanist, pharmacologist, agronomist, archaeologist, ethnographer, cartographer, encyclopedia compiler, diplomat, hydraulic engineer, inventor , university chancellor, minister of finance, etc.
They did exist. The owner of the business card is
Shen Kuo, an 11th century genius whose inventions include the magnetic compass
and fossils. It was just an official job, apart from other things he was
passionate about, such as writing poetry and composing music.
Shen is the Leonardo da Vinci of China. Like
Leonardo, he recorded his ideas in a notebook, lost for centuries and found
only recently. Just as Western scientists are very much interested in all
fields, scientists from the Arabian peninsula from the past are generalists,
multi-talented.
Arab scientists recorded in history have first
opened the gate, they introduced the magic of the trio of Socrates, Plato,
Aristotle -all three had the longest “businesscards” of their time- when Europe
was still sleeping long.
History has proven how the Arabian peninsula and
its surroundings have produced many great scholars and scientists in the fields
of philosophy, science, politics, literature, society, religion, medicine, and
so on before Europe rose. It’s not one person who specializes in one specialty,
but almost all of them are bought up brilliantly by one person at a time.
Among them is Al-Farabi who is known as:
physicist, chemist, philosopher, logician, psychology, metaphysics, politics,
music, and many others who acted simultaneously. Another prominent philosopher
was Ibn al-Haitham, although he was better known in the fields of science and
medicine, but was also an expert in religion, philosophy, and astronomy.
Indonesia has at least Umar Kayam, a versatile
figure who has lived and worked in the republic. He works as a lecturer,
scientist, official, short story writer, to film player. His father gave him
the name Umar Kayam because he was inspired by a Sufi generalist, philosopher,
astrologer, mathematician, and famous Persian poet who lived in the 12th
century, named Omar Khayam.
What about modern humans, people of the digital
era who are all compact and instant? Before this era was born, the world had
gone through a petty squabble between the versatile generalists and the later
specialists.
Generalists criticize specialists for the
assumption that they are too compartmentalized and specialize in everything that
is considered easy and can be done all at once, but is broken down into several
different professions. For example, Physics which began to be reduced to
mechanics expertise, theoretical expertise, quantum energy, expertise in the
concept of force, impulse, momentum, relativity, dynamic and static
electricity, light and sound.
Meanwhile, specialists think that specialization
is the right way to comprehensively master one aspect of human life. Although
not holistic, that is, not mastering all fields of science, specialists
emphasize optimal excellence in only one field. On the downside, as the
generalists predict they are very vulnerable to ignorance and dependence on
others.
An example is the relationship between a doctor
and a pharmacist. In the past, a doctor was a profession that could handle and
give medicines to patients, but nowadays the role of making medicines is left
to pharmacists so that the doctor’s task is becoming increasingly narrow,
namely only examining and diagnosing patients and then given a medicine
concoction that must be redeemed. at the pharmacist.
The work of doctors continues to narrow to
specialists in almost all fields, for example dental specialists, then oral
surgeons, ENT specialists and so on, precisely in very close areas.
Ultramodern society should not side with one pole,
but make an elaboration of the belief and gratitude that the human brain
capacity used is only below 10 percent of what it should be, there is still a
lot of empty space.
Specialization is indeed deeper but they are more
confined to ignorance or even ignorance of many things, so that being a
generalist is a necessity these days. Later, human specialists who are
generalists or multi-tasking will be created.
The importance of being a generalist is, humans
will have many choices of professions when we have to catch up with smart
machines that increasingly seize all job opportunities in the future. Welcome
back generalists! ~
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