Generalist



Generalist was one of the Mentat major ranks. They appeared haughty and pedantic who overcame the naive literalism of the junior orders by "bringing to decision making a healthy common sense". In achieving awareness of the "broad sweep of what is happening in his universe" the Generalist risked believing himself supreme in his encyclopedic store of knowledge.

Generalists were expected to possess broad and accurate knowledge of at least 94.75% of everything occurring in "his universe"; this knowledge, joined to the confidence-building Mentat training, led many to annoy their comrades with an overblown sense of superiority.

The Mentat Handbook warned that principles of expertise can change, that no one can catalogue all knowledge, and that the Generalist was himself part of the set of phenomena to be learned. But even with these caveats, Generalists were very difficult people to work with.