Of course there's not limit to how much can be known about this bloated universe, and of course no human can know everything about anything, much less everything. But when you read and think broadly for long enough, you start to see the parallels between almost any given domain, and have a strong and deep grasp of the main forces shaping human existence (evolution, neuroscience, physics, sociology, learning, human development, genetics, psychology, biochemistry, the human condition, culture, dialectics and logic, linguistics, economics, geophysics, etc.), it becomes a matter of time. How much time do you spend processing, challenging, discussing, writing about, creating, or otherwise interacting with various domains of knowledge and understanding. I like the idea of a very broad exposure to all of the main domains, and a few deep dives into different elements of life. Once a person reaches this place, it's nice to pick one and apply the whole of what you've mastered to furthering that chosen domain for the betterment of all.
I think of the many brilliant early Americans who applied themselves to establishing our initial institutions, and as we progress, I wonder if breadth of knowledge has become so much less a thing (with the waning of liberal arts as a thing), that the fully educated statesmen have been replaced by specifically trained wonks and fluffy leaders. The prevalence of non-readers, disengaged citizens, and the dearth of broad/deep knowledge of the engaged has left is in quite a difficult state.
There are, to be sure, those who get themselves involved in broad/deep endeavors, and it's a pretty impressive thing to see. I think of Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Charlie Rose.... But I just wonder if there are enough of them, and if there are enough associations/collaborations/organizations/institutions that exist to take advantage of the small proportion of those who have applied themselves to that endeavor. When I read of Jefferson and Madison and Hamilton and Bacon and Newton and Einstein and Boorstin and Bryson and Bolden. They are impressive.
With the scope and nature of the challenges and obstacles that are staring us in the face here on earth, notably the immigrant/refugee crisis, virus proliferation and the spread of antibiotic resistance disease, climate change, energy and water shortages, increasingly aged population... All of these need many levels of leader, from the global to the local level, and what we're turning out from schools are students who are uninterested in learning because they've been inculcated with a culture of paper achievement. We virtually ignore the most important aspects of education: psychology and relationships, and leadership married to a mastery of another specific domain of knowledge.
This is the real crisis, because all of the other crises are going to be coped with by effective leaders of people who are able to fully (as much as is possible) comprehend the gross and nuanced full scope of the issues. The fact that we turn out most students who don't read and students who just want the degree instead of the learning that the degree is supposed to certify. We've got it backward, and we're perpetuating a back-dated idea of how we eventually deal with the problems of the world.
Finally, building a better conduit for transmitting what is known about things to the populace in general is going to be needed if we expect the average American to have a pretty good command of the state of affairs that require our active work to solve.
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