Technical skills - Overview

Skills are learned ways of doing things.

Behavior only has two sources: genetics - the accumulated effects of past organic successes, and learning - the accumulated results of life experience which have changed how we see and respond to the world.

Behavior change comes from both sources, but learning is incomparably quicker. Animals capable of learning can adapt to changes in their world with unmatched speed compared to those who cannot.

“Technical skills” are those that require more learning, often involving considerable detail, and often also familiarity with concepts not a part of most people common knowledge.

Some examples could include the ability to bake yeasted breads, or to fix a broken light switch (safely!), or to jump over a high bar using a pole. Our technical skills reflect our life experience, personal efforts, opportunity, and desires.

In this section skills that are particularly useful to people I tend to help, as well as skills I myself use and value highly. In separate sections are cognitive skills and cooking skills, addressed by implication in the recipes section of the website.