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One somewhat useful heuristic I've found for judging my own competence: If I think someone is wrong but I can't say why, I'm probably the incompetent one (they
by 1053r 16y ago
One somewhat useful heuristic I've found for judging my own competence: If I think someone is wrong but I can't say why, I'm probably the incompetent one (they may be also). But if I think someone is wrong and I can give clear directions as to what they are doing wrong and how to fix it, I probably have a better understanding of the subject domain than they do.
It doesn't always work, and but it's especially handy when you turn it around and get someone else to tell you exactly why what you are doing is wrong.
- pradocchia 16y agoThis is a very, very dangerous heuristic. Competence does not imply the ability to articulate said competence. Many (most? all?) competences are in the doing, not the saying. Articulation is its own competence, and there's a bridge from one to the other, but only a bridge. It is so dangerous because you are more likely to write someone off (yourself or others) if the articulation requirement isn't met. When it's others that you write off, you compound whatever latent Dunning-Kruger effect you may be experiencing. When it's yourself, you then open yourself to distortion caused by the Dunning-Kruger effect in others. eg, "he seems to know what he's talking about" etc.