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Of course it is. But it is for domain experts to decide what’s best and more promising, not you and me. So beware of populist politicians banning this and that

by option 7y ago

Of course it is. But it is for domain experts to decide what’s best and more promising, not you and me. So beware of populist politicians banning this and that or trying to revive X. We need those who will set targets (CO2 emissions, costs, etc) and achieve them with the help of professionals.

willis936 7y ago
This way of thinking is so idealist it comes back around on itself. Policymakers do not listen to professionals. Policy is based entirely around fashion. There’s no reason to push against good solutions becoming fashionable.
creddit 7y ago
I think one of the important things I've learned since leaving higher education is that over the past ~50yrs a deep culture of gatekeeping and credentialism has developed which does far more harm than good. People are capable of thinking through problems themselves and are often able to take in high level parameters about a concept and come to a conclusion without a degree or some other signal that they are an "expert". This type of gatekeeping thinking essentially asserts the world as fixed. It asserts a world in which all possible domains of knowledge are known and only those with some set of credentials in that domain are allowed to speak to that domain. This both limits the possible benefits of multi-disciplinary pursuits but also asserts that there are no and can be no new domains of knowledge. It's very static thinking.
- ben_w 7y ago
  I do not deny the existence of harmful gatekeeping — one of my lecturers at university in 2005-06 insisted that “several megabytes” was too much data to record while I was recording the lecture as non-compressed 44k@16-bit. That said, my experience is that most people don’t put in the effort required to understand problems like this. I include myself in this, despite being a poly-nerd with an interest in nuclear power.

by option 7y ago

willis936 7y ago

This way of thinking is so idealist it comes back around on itself. Policymakers do not listen to professionals. Policy is based entirely around fashion. There’s no reason to push against good solutions becoming fashionable.

creddit 7y ago

I think one of the important things I've learned since leaving higher education is that over the past ~50yrs a deep culture of gatekeeping and credentialism has developed which does far more harm than good. People are capable of thinking through problems themselves and are often able to take in high level parameters about a concept and come to a conclusion without a degree or some other signal that they are an "expert". This type of gatekeeping thinking essentially asserts the world as fixed. It asserts a world in which all possible domains of knowledge are known and only those with some set of credentials in that domain are allowed to speak to that domain. This both limits the possible benefits of multi-disciplinary pursuits but also asserts that there are no and can be no new domains of knowledge. It's very static thinking.

ben_w 7y ago
I do not deny the existence of harmful gatekeeping — one of my lecturers at university in 2005-06 insisted that “several megabytes” was too much data to record while I was recording the lecture as non-compressed 44k@16-bit. That said, my experience is that most people don’t put in the effort required to understand problems like this. I include myself in this, despite being a poly-nerd with an interest in nuclear power.