Food for thought

[tundramanq]

Sounds like Advanced Upsidedown Underwater Basket Weaving - the only paying market for it is teaching it to nieve students. Mom and Pop need to see where their money is spent on their kids education. It's a lot of cash for a minimum wage job at McDonalds.
The US is desperate for all engineering degrees, but the public schools aren't teaching the basics required to even be considered for admission.

[Spartan Tartan]

As was said earlier, trust is important when discussing expertise. There are several ways to establish trust--one example is tobget a professional society credential. Another, for XMTS and other less professionally rigid constructs, I like to see who says what and evaluate a person's expertise by what they say and how the behave/interact.

Another point which I have not yet seen is the matter of relevance. Not picking on PhDs, but if your field of study is mathematics then your expertise is not relevant to a sociology person. Not directly anyway.

Moreover, relevance is from MY point of view. If your expertise is not consistent with my world view, then it is not relevant. So, in that regard, TO ME, one is not an expert. No matter their credential or establisged experience, if Ibdo not aspire to be like that person then their expertise is not anything I am concerned with.

Correct me if I am wrong, but a dissertation board consists if experts in a particular field assessing a new potential experts contribution, no? Put a non-related expert on that board and one could argue all those years if research were wasted...at least not appreciated by the "right" expert.

[Bugbear]

You all should try being useless: it's worth the effort.

[CDNSushi]

This thread reminds me of a philosophical problem I heard recently:

Does a single individual who doesn't know what he's talking about, know more or less than two people who don't know what they're talking about?

[Steve Ashton]

The true philosophical conundrum we are still faced with is:

If a man who is an expert speaks while in the woods,
and there is no woman around to hear him,
is he still wrong?

[David Thorpe]

The true philosophical conundrum we are still faced with is:

If a man who is an expert speaks while in the woods,
and there is no woman around to hear him,
is he still wrong?

Emphatically yes, according to my lovely bride.

[unixken]

This thread reminds me of a philosophical problem I heard recently:

Does a single individual who doesn't know what he's talking about, know more or less than two people who don't know what they're talking about?

Does a 4 cylinder engine take half as long to warm up as an 8 cylinder engine? Or twice as long?

I myself can not design nor build a pocket watch. But I can still tell the time no less well than the designers/builders of a cesium-isotope atomic clock. It's time for me to get ready for work. ;)

[tundramanq]

Thanks guys - You started my day rolling on the floor - before coffee.

[Father Bill]

I continue to be disappointed at the hatred and distrust of expertise in our society, often by those who don't have it. The fact that one doesn't understand an expert is indeed an indication of a communication gap. The question is, "Who owns the gap?"

This public mood swing seems to have come with the post-modern assertion that all opinions are equal. To be honest, when undergoing open-heart surgery, I would like to think that my surgeon had been trained by an expert, (and yes, one who was able to communicate that expertise) but not by someone whose opinion was merely deemed "equal."

And yes, folks, having been educated by a vast array of PhDs, I admit that I actually understood and appreciated them all. Do I need to apologize for that?

I wonder if the hatred of experts is a new "racism" or just sour grapes... and now that I've made myself so very popular, it's time to shave and shower!

[tundramanq]

Father, I don't think it's hatred. It's more like distrust. Even the AMA requires internship at a hospital for medical doctors before granting full license to prove that the knowledge can be put to use wisely in solving real problems. I still get second opinions before the knife comes out when possible. My last big surgury to remove 1/3 of my large intestine went very well except for the reclosing of the incision site. It tore out 4 months later and I now have a large (4 by 6 inch) dacron patch that 12 years later still keeps me from wearing kilts at standard waist height. Yes, I followed post OP instructions to the letter.