The Polymath Premium: Is Breadth Beating Depth Again?
from AI and the Human Future Hosted by Daniel Altman and Emily Carter
Daniel brings an Aeon essay about the great Islamic polymaths — including the man who sized the Earth from a single hilltop — into a head-on collision with this episode's own framing: that narrow specialists are being systematically eliminated because tool expertise now expires in months. He and Emily test the mechanism, the adoption reality, and what a mid-career specialist should actually do about it. ## Hosts ### Daniel Altman Daniel Altman is a computer scientist and AI strategist with a background in engineering, quantitative research, and emerging technologies. He studies how technological breakthroughs reshape industries, markets, work, and human capabilities. ### Emily Carter Emily Carter is a business strategist and former technology product leader with experience building digital products and studying how innovation reaches millions of users. She focuses on AI adoption, business transformation, work, education, entrepreneurship, and leadership. ## Sources - https://aeon.co/essays/four-islamic-polymaths-prove-breadth-beats-specialisation ## Episode Information Language: en Published: 2026-09-14T09:47:43.907082+00:00
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