/sci/ - Science & Math

>>11388816
You should hone those skills which are naturally your gifts as much as possible, and be at least competent in as many other things as you have time to learn. You shouldn't however ignore your innate talents in favor of exclusively general skills, the mark of an excellent person is that they are willing to learn as necessity demands, not that they allow their talent to be wasted chasing after broad mediocrity in all things. I think what Heinlein is talking about is avoiding becoming so specialized that you are completely useless at everything else, and using a hyperbole to drive the point home. He is right about insects, they're excellent specialists and it has proven to be a winning survival strategy, however we are not them and what works for them doesn't work for us.

>>11155967
Yep, leafcutters have a pretty radical variation in size depending on how much they're fed during development. They're one of the most hyper-specialist ant species.