This is how literally everything is. The individualistic urge to celebrate specific people has always escaped me because like, nobody does great things alone. There always teams of engineers, interns, students, personal support networks, and an endless slue of people you can credit discovery with depending on how mercurial you want to be. The only thing that highlighting individuals does is create negative side effects. People who try to go it alone and fail start to believe they failed because of personal inadequacy rather than a lack of support and resources. Celebrated individuals loose sight of the contributions of those around them and become overly invested in their own intellectualism. Uncelebrated individuals doing important work become discouraged and may change fields.
Awards have even been specifically created with the expressed purpose of dividing groups. Famously, the Oscars were created to create a sense of elitism amongst actors and separate them from the other industries that worked in film. This resulted in film industry unions loosing their most effective spokes people.
Anyways that’s why individualism is a plague. You’re individuality is important, but no discovery was made without the efforts of countless colleagues and predecessors. Nobody does anything in a vacuum.
And don’t even get me started on the biology of community. We’re built to work together.
This is how literally everything is. The individualistic urge to celebrate specific people has always escaped me because like, nobody does great things alone.
I agree with this.
“If I have seen further, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants” -Bernard of Chartres
Anyways that’s why individualism is a plague.
I disagree with this.
You’re individuality is important, but no discovery was made without the efforts of countless colleagues and predecessors. Nobody does anything in a vacuum.
Certain small specific approaches or ideas are indeed from individuals and can be revolutionary. Carrying them to reality may indeed require the group, however. There danger is swinging too far away from individuality. You can get burdened with the concept that the only way to effect change or innovation is through a group, which also isn’t true.
The inception of Linux is a great example. Unix had a long and storied history before Linus started creating Linux. However the barriers to creating a cheap/free/lightweight version of a Unix like operating system were overcome initially by one person. Just that very first version of Linux took many works of others prior, added to it, and augmented it, and elevated it enough to create a point of change. Everything that happened after is absolutely the group contribution that made it what it was today. However, for a moment, there was a single individual that moved it forward. That is worthy of recognition that it can occur.
What a fantastic opportunity for me to rant:
This is how literally everything is. The individualistic urge to celebrate specific people has always escaped me because like, nobody does great things alone. There always teams of engineers, interns, students, personal support networks, and an endless slue of people you can credit discovery with depending on how mercurial you want to be. The only thing that highlighting individuals does is create negative side effects. People who try to go it alone and fail start to believe they failed because of personal inadequacy rather than a lack of support and resources. Celebrated individuals loose sight of the contributions of those around them and become overly invested in their own intellectualism. Uncelebrated individuals doing important work become discouraged and may change fields.
Awards have even been specifically created with the expressed purpose of dividing groups. Famously, the Oscars were created to create a sense of elitism amongst actors and separate them from the other industries that worked in film. This resulted in film industry unions loosing their most effective spokes people.
Anyways that’s why individualism is a plague. You’re individuality is important, but no discovery was made without the efforts of countless colleagues and predecessors. Nobody does anything in a vacuum.
And don’t even get me started on the biology of community. We’re built to work together.
I agree with this.
“If I have seen further, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants” -Bernard of Chartres
I disagree with this.
Certain small specific approaches or ideas are indeed from individuals and can be revolutionary. Carrying them to reality may indeed require the group, however. There danger is swinging too far away from individuality. You can get burdened with the concept that the only way to effect change or innovation is through a group, which also isn’t true.
The inception of Linux is a great example. Unix had a long and storied history before Linus started creating Linux. However the barriers to creating a cheap/free/lightweight version of a Unix like operating system were overcome initially by one person. Just that very first version of Linux took many works of others prior, added to it, and augmented it, and elevated it enough to create a point of change. Everything that happened after is absolutely the group contribution that made it what it was today. However, for a moment, there was a single individual that moved it forward. That is worthy of recognition that it can occur.