[philwelch]

The extreme majority of people might be "mediocre" if you average out all of their skills, talents, and characteristics, but that's not meaningful. If you are an excellent cobbler and I am an excellent carpenter, then you can make me some excellent shoes and I can make you some excellent cabinetry and we are both better off, even though if we average together both of our skills in both trades, we are both mediocre. The world we live in today is a little more complicated than that, but most people can be at least better than mediocre in at least one small part of life if they work hard at it.

[thwy12321]

"specialization is for insects" -Robert Heinlein

[ksdale]

If I remember correctly, the entirety of that quote is really more about being a well-rounded person than about the best way to make a living. I'm betting Robert Heinlein didn't make his own clothes and shoes, though maybe he could have.

[philwelch]

Yeah, even in a world where everyone can, to complete the quote, “change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly”—there will still be some who are particularly excellent generals, butchers, sailors, architects, poets, accountants, stonemasons, medics, nurses, soldiers, officers, engineers, programmers, and chefs; they will simply also be capable of doing a passable (if perhaps mediocre) job at the other tasks as needed. And frankly, merely being that well rounded by itself takes you beyond mediocrity.