This depends on how far outside that human’s current capabilities, and that human’s society’s state of knowledge, that thing is. For playing basketball in the modern world, sure, it makes no sense to study physics and calculus, it’s far better to find a coach and train the skills you need. But if you want to become immortal and happen to live in ancient China, then studying and practicing “that thing” looks like eating specially-prepared concoctions containing mercury and thereby getting yourself killed, whereas studying generic rationality leads to the whole series of scientific insights and industrial innovations that make actual progress towards the real goal possible.
Put another way: I think the real complexity is hidden in your use of the phrase “something specific.” If you can concretely state and imagine what the specific thing is, then you probably already have the context needed for useful practice. It’s in figuring out that context, in order to be able to so concretely state what more abstractly stated ‘goals’ really imply and entail, that we need more general and flexible rationality skills.
If you want to be good at something specific that doesn’t exist yet, you need to study the relevant area of science, which is still more specific than rationality.
Assuming the relevant area of science already exists, yes. Recurse as needed, and there is some level of goal for which generic rationality is a highly valuable skillset. Where that level is, depends on personal and societal context.
This depends on how far outside that human’s current capabilities, and that human’s society’s state of knowledge, that thing is. For playing basketball in the modern world, sure, it makes no sense to study physics and calculus, it’s far better to find a coach and train the skills you need. But if you want to become immortal and happen to live in ancient China, then studying and practicing “that thing” looks like eating specially-prepared concoctions containing mercury and thereby getting yourself killed, whereas studying generic rationality leads to the whole series of scientific insights and industrial innovations that make actual progress towards the real goal possible.
Put another way: I think the real complexity is hidden in your use of the phrase “something specific.” If you can concretely state and imagine what the specific thing is, then you probably already have the context needed for useful practice. It’s in figuring out that context, in order to be able to so concretely state what more abstractly stated ‘goals’ really imply and entail, that we need more general and flexible rationality skills.
If you want to be good at something specific that doesn’t exist yet, you need to study the relevant area of science, which is still more specific than rationality.
Assuming the relevant area of science already exists, yes. Recurse as needed, and there is some level of goal for which generic rationality is a highly valuable skillset. Where that level is, depends on personal and societal context.
That’s quite different from saying rationality is a one size fits all solution.