[dasmoth]

Imagine you had to harvest your own food, build your own shelter and manufacture your own clothes... you would not have time to be in Hacker News.

Don’t be so sure about this one — there are a fair number of people who do grow much or all of their own food, and often at least some of the other necessities as well. Those who are good at it seem to end up with some leisure time as well (although whether they read HN, I don’t know). There are always arguments around the corner cases — nobody gets to be 100% self sufficient, there are usually bought in tools or something — but it seems to be possible to get quite close.

Rejecting specialisation completely is perhaps a bit extreme for me, but I can certainly see a lot of advantages to not allowing oneself to be defined by ones speciality.

[badminton1]

And what tools and supplies do they use to grow their own food? Are they fully self-reliant? I doubt so.

[dasmoth]

I already conceded the “tools” issue. That’s not necessarily a huge input though — good tools last a long time.

Can you find a blacksmith who would trade tools for food? I’ve never had cause to find out but it wouldn’t shock me if you could...

[Balero]

Also where did they get the money to start out. Land, buildings etc. And to read hacker news a screen, an internet connection, all of which made, by specialist people using specialist tools, made by other specialist people using specialist tools. All of which were developed by specialist people relying on other specialist people.

Philosophically I like the idea of being a generalist. It's good to know. at least rudimentarily how to build simple things and look after yourself. But lets not kid ourselves, if we all did this we'd be back to the stone/iron age.

[badminton1]

Well said.

Even a "generalist" is [from a high-level perspective] a specialist.

[hinkley]

I think the point is that good tools that last a long time are a specialization. As is the distribution network for those tools, the infrastructure to deliver them, the equipment and the raw materials to make them.

[cimmanom]

Can you find a blacksmith, period?

[dasmoth]

Certainly. Most around here (UK) tend to make more ornamental than functional stuff nowadays, but skills are definitely out there. This being a somewhat “horsey” area, there are also plenty of farriers.

It’s also somewhat accessible to hobbyists. My sister has done some pretty neat stuff.