POLL: Scholar, Polymath, Professional & Autodidact: Which Are You?

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There are a lot of smart and talented people on ILX. I would guess there are more than a few with advanced degrees, others working in a profession, others who qualify as scholars in one or more subjects, and still more who have no recognized credentials, but who have acquired wide or deep knowledge through their own unaided efforts.

My academic career was unspectacular; my only professional credential was issued from a community college; my professional career was in the wannabe profession of technical writing. I probably fit the classic profile of an autodidact, who knows a tremendous amount, but who is so isolated from the community that tests and ratifies 'correct' knowledge that my base of knowledge is amorphous and often uncertain.

Where would you place yourself among the following choices:

Poll Results

OptionVotes
Autodidact - self-taught, but highly conversant in my fields of interest 22
Scholar - a recognized contributor within a field of knowledge 11
Professional - a doctor, lawyer, teacher, accountant or other recognized profession 10
I don't think I fit comfortably into any of these categories 8
I am disgruntled with this poll and wish to register a complaint 8
I think I fit comfortably into more than one of these categories 4
Polymath - a recognized contributor in multiple fields of knowledge 1


A is for (Aimless), Sunday, 8 July 2018 21:20 (six years ago)

whither ‘I am a ducking dumbass’?

Fox News' Chad Pergram contributed to this report (bizarro gazzara), Sunday, 8 July 2018 21:21 (six years ago)

dilettante

he's one of our pwn (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 8 July 2018 21:21 (six years ago)

so dumb i can’t even spell ‘fucking’

Fox News' Chad Pergram contributed to this report (bizarro gazzara), Sunday, 8 July 2018 21:21 (six years ago)

i mean *really* lazy dilettante

he's one of our pwn (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 8 July 2018 21:22 (six years ago)

My field is small and I contribute on stuff that other people all agree is important but nobody else wants to do the work on, if that makes sense.

El Tomboto, Sunday, 8 July 2018 21:27 (six years ago)

impostor iirc

U. K. Le Garage (wins), Sunday, 8 July 2018 21:30 (six years ago)

Not really sure where I fit in this. Definitely not a "recognized contributor" in anything. Have college-level scholarship that spanned a broad range of topics including English and French lit, music, and critical theory, with an honors thesis on electronic music, but hold no advanced degrees. I'm widely conversant in the arts and pop culture, and play and write on multiple musical instruments. I've worked in the professional world for nearly 20 years, but am not credentialed in any particular way.

Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Sunday, 8 July 2018 21:37 (six years ago)

yeah dilettante is missing; so is amateur (in its root sense of "labor of love."

Voted autodidact because it seemed closest. I was trained, sort of, in three more or less moribund trades: journalism, English, and philosophy. That I am employed at all is a continuing mystery.

nonsensei (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 8 July 2018 21:45 (six years ago)

That's probably right for me too. Even though I'm not completely self-taught, I can't say that I have tons of hard scholarship under my belt. My major in college was chosen specifically for its purposeful lack of focus.

Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Sunday, 8 July 2018 21:53 (six years ago)

Autodidact is closest, I guess. I'd rather just call myself a reader. I have an advanced degree, but I mainly read outside of that degree.

jmm, Sunday, 8 July 2018 21:54 (six years ago)

Autodidact is probably too serious, dilettante too light, connoisseur too pretentious. It's hard to find the right word. I'd rather just call myself a reader too.

Luna Schlosser, Sunday, 8 July 2018 22:13 (six years ago)

full-time dreamah

mookieproof, Sunday, 8 July 2018 22:16 (six years ago)

dilettante

100%

Alan Alba (Tom D.), Sunday, 8 July 2018 22:22 (six years ago)

in the kingdom of the fuckwits, the one-eyed dilettante gets called a weirdo!

calzino, Sunday, 8 July 2018 22:34 (six years ago)

Bounder

nonsensei (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 8 July 2018 22:39 (six years ago)

what the lazy people said

repartee is deft (darraghmac), Sunday, 8 July 2018 22:41 (six years ago)

ive honours degrees in two essentially unrelated disciplines neither of which i really use in my job, which itself involves very little of anything.

thinking of getting a third honours degree that would bridge the gap between the current ones i still wouldn't use it but work would pay for it i reckon

outside of work i distrust expertise

repartee is deft (darraghmac), Sunday, 8 July 2018 22:44 (six years ago)

i'm still p good at unreal tournament

difficult listening hour, Sunday, 8 July 2018 22:45 (six years ago)

uh the list is missing "handsome as fuck genius"

morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 8 July 2018 23:41 (six years ago)

"but lazy"

repartee is deft (darraghmac), Sunday, 8 July 2018 23:43 (six years ago)

One thing about what I do is that if the thing you’ve made doesn’t have an API, it’s not real, for some people- but my contributions are specifically about the people problems, not the engineering problems, because we’re already covered up in technical “solutions”

El Tomboto, Sunday, 8 July 2018 23:46 (six years ago)

Technically I guess I'm a Scholar, but Autodidact is far more accurate of where I'm coming from.

ryan, Monday, 9 July 2018 02:00 (six years ago)

When I put together the list of options I was thinking Autodidact or Not in These Categories would be the runaway vote-getters. I considered Amateur and Dilettante, but these are just variations of autodidact in most cases, imo.

A is for (Aimless), Monday, 9 July 2018 04:50 (six years ago)

what about an academic whose contributions are ignored?

an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Monday, 9 July 2018 05:47 (six years ago)

I’m just a wage laborer who occasionally goes into reveries about metaphysics, I’d be the perfect person for someone more functional to meet in an amusing anecdote.

devops mom (silby), Monday, 9 July 2018 06:00 (six years ago)

Professional cause I'm boring

Roz, Monday, 9 July 2018 11:27 (six years ago)

recognized crank in multiple fields of knowledge

jmm, Monday, 9 July 2018 11:30 (six years ago)

which answer is "I instinctively recoil at the thought of identifying as any of these, the same way I'd recoil at the thought of identifying as a sapiosexual or whatever"

aloha darkness my old friend (katherine), Monday, 9 July 2018 11:36 (six years ago)

what about an academic whose contributions are ignored?


Scholar of the highest order, then.

El Tomboto, Monday, 9 July 2018 11:50 (six years ago)

katherine: read more than five of the options

El Tomboto, Monday, 9 July 2018 11:52 (six years ago)

i actually have a professional career at this point, but the stuff i know most about is of marginal professional value and is just stuff i picked up on the side

Arch Bacon (rushomancy), Monday, 9 July 2018 12:46 (six years ago)

three weeks pass...

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Tuesday, 31 July 2018 00:01 (six years ago)

No "Budding crank," no credibility.

Polly of the Pre-Codes (j.lu), Tuesday, 31 July 2018 00:13 (six years ago)

I'd select 'autodidact' from the available poll options, 'dilettante' from the options suggested by others itt. Left to my own self-description I'd probably go with 'jack of all offs'.

Things To Do For Dinner When You're Dad (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 31 July 2018 13:22 (six years ago)

"budding"? cranks here (myself included) tend to be more full-blown than todd rundgren

Arch Bacon (rushomancy), Tuesday, 31 July 2018 13:38 (six years ago)

"I probably fit the classic profile of an autodidact, who knows a tremendous amount, but who is so isolated from the community that tests and ratifies 'correct' knowledge that my base of knowledge is amorphous and often uncertain."

oh then i guess this is me too (good summary aimless)

princess of hell (BradNelson), Tuesday, 31 July 2018 15:12 (six years ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Wednesday, 1 August 2018 00:01 (six years ago)

(strokes chin. slightly purses lips)

very interesting results. very ilxy. many, many bright people and 12.5% complainers.

A is for (Aimless), Wednesday, 1 August 2018 00:42 (six years ago)

many selfdescribed independent thinking experts

and dont underrate how many of em wouldve complained as a second choice

dele alli my bookmarks (darraghmac), Wednesday, 1 August 2018 00:56 (six years ago)

I am much better at complaining than I am at knowing stuff tbf.

Things To Do For Dinner When You're Dad (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 1 August 2018 01:46 (six years ago)

i'm not much of a complainer but not a smart guy either. just happy to be here

challops trap house (Will M.), Wednesday, 1 August 2018 14:46 (six years ago)


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