up:: [[150 The Almagest]]
tags:: #note/boat🚤 
dates:: 2018-02-20

# People's attributes are domain-specific
*Just because Frank is good at ABC doesn't mean he's good at XYZ.*

Imagination is domain-specific…sometimes a person’s attributes cross domains, but don’t assume they do. This is related to the [[Dunning-Kruger Effect]].

In essence, we must not conflate people's excellence in one area with their competence in another. People's attributes are domain-specific. For example, just because they can write, doesn't mean they can sing. Maybe they can, maybe they can't, but don't just automatically think they can.

One of the producers on a TV show was good at writing, but inept in producing during the post-production phase.

Interestingly, I heard a very similar quote from one of the ancient Stoics, Epictetus, who said, 

*"Don't confuse qualities found in the same writer only incidentally. If Plato had been strong and handsome, should I also try to become strong and handsome as if this were essential to philosophy, since there was one particular philosopher who combined philosophy with good looks?"* - Epictetus 1.8.12.13 