Aight, let's say you find some kind of magic lamp with a Genie in it, he offers you 2 choices :
Making you good at everything ever, from cooking to sniping, you will never be recognized as one of the best though, still, those skills would still be above average.
Or
Making you the best of the best at anything you'd like, only one thing though. You'd be much much better than the previous best and would never be passed by anybody ever, even after your death nobody will ever reach your greatness in whichever skill you choose.
I think there would be more infamy in being the best at one thing, but you'd be a more interesting person as a jack. How good of a jack-of-all trades are we talking? This would influence my decision.
I don't like standing out in the first place. Why? Sounds to me like you're too scared to try to fly so you'll settle for a life on the ground, a mediocre life punctuated only by the occasional birthday or holiday, never any excitement or anything to look forward to, only the long road toward inevitable death, marked by a gravestone that nobody will ever visit, long forgotten in the annals of history, alone, alone...
-- chumbucketeer fills cups like double-Ds. http://img.imgcake.com/chumpngej.png - Art by BIGPUN9999
MarvelousGerbil posted... I think there would be more infamy in being the best at one thing, but you'd be a more interesting person as a jack. How good of a jack-of-all trades are we talking? This would influence my decision.
Good enough to not need to pay for a single services unless you really can't do it yourself because of a lack of equipment or because it's something that needs to be performed by someone else (like a surgery on your body).
You'd be able to fix your car as well as a professional mechanic. You'd be able to diagnose yourself as well as a professional diagnostician. You'd be able to cook as well as a professional chef.
Master of something. What that something is is a lot harder to come up with, but you go down in history as the best that ever lived at something, and that's something special that no one will ever take from you.
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Okay, Chief, take 'em away. I'm gonna go home and sleep with my wife. ~ Mr. Green Enjoy the silence.
I guess as a master of "whatever" I'd be able to make enough money to pay other high end people to do whatever I want anyway. However, being a master anything means that people always want you to do nothing but that with your life and you may feel ethically compelled to do so, because just being "the best" at, say, medical science, doesn't mean that you don't have to work to cure cancer, just that if anyone could do it, it's you. IDK, probably still master, I'm fairly competitive in crap I care about so always coming out on top seems awesome.
Is it "best athlete ever" or "best baseball player ever" or "best homerun hitter ever".
Or in terms of science, is it "best scientist ever" or "best biochemist ever" or "best vascular researcher" or "best tissue engineered vascular graft researcher".
Or in medicine "best doctor ever" or "best surgeon" or "best cardiac surgeon".
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"nah, it's not my team if I drop pitchers for merely being horrible" -War13104
as someone who naturally leans heavily towards the former and feels great about that, I'd still pick greatest. I can't imagine how incredible my career would need to be to make me the greatest baseball pitcher ever - to leave no doubt about the title, it'd be something like 21 26-win seasons, the all-time WAR leader, first in strikeouts, spectacular playoff stats with multiple championships, multiple perfect games...a true superstar. i couldn't turn that down for overall excellence.
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Leafs / Raptors / Blue Jays / TFC / Argos / Tottenham Pokemon Black - 3782 8319 5346
Best at something probably would lead to the easiest life. That's pretty much how you make money. By not having competition.
That said, being great at lots of little things is just plain cool, and makes you versatile. At the very least you can impress a lot of people. It could actually land you some hot money too if you find a job that requires lots of skills.
it's kind of my personality type and what I tend to do in video games or character building situations. Sure light weapons are good for all the extra attacks, but heavy weapons hit so much harder...i'll just go with the medium one, ect.
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Coincidence that a self-avowed Communist is so against democracy and traditional marriage? - SephG after misquoting me hilariously
Does taking the jack of all trades route preclude me from ever becoming a master of a skill just through my own volition? If so, I'll take the mastery route, since that doesn't seem to make me some kind of brilliant savant who can't do anything else.
Jack-of-all-trades. I can basically do whatever I want, and odds are be able to live a really good life either way. Being untouchable at something seems like it'd get boring incredibly quickly - I like some competition.
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Fight like dragons, have no fear, swords are made of STEEEEEEEEL~