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You're right, and this pseudo-scientific approach is one of the major reasons that there is now such widespread distrust of supposed experts. Way too often peop

You're right, and this pseudo-scientific approach is one of the major reasons that there is now such widespread distrust of supposed experts. Way too often people catch them turning a blind eye to clearly invalid methodologies because it came from a peer, or refusing to acknowledge claims or criticisms because it came from outside their little clique. This is not behaviour we want to encourage or tolerate.

nemo 5y ago
Whatever discipline you're working in, you could invite uninformed strangers to educate you about your job and your field for a while and see how that goes. Experts benefit from their expertise which include being taken seriously when discussing those areas of expertise (as well as being able to get jobs in specialized fields). Expertise is a good thing, it's because we encourage it that the world works as well as it does. We don't really have a meritocracy, but by moving scientific institutions towards judging, selecting, and hiring based on expertise, they've done better than in the past when there was more nepotism and favors at many research universities. Granting the benefit of the doubt to those who have proven themselves able to do the work is rational, to grant the benefit of the doubt to random people regarding their expertise is deeply foolish.
- native_samples 5y ago
  As a programmer who has worked in enterprise, financial contexts and a big tech firm, I can assure you I have never been lacking in random non-programmers "educating" me about how to do my job, sometimes through the medium of passing regulations that don't make any technical sense. The idea that experts don't get interfered with normally is an academic idea, a projection of for they think the world works everywhere. But fundamentally you're still conflating terms. Many people presented as experts by the academy, media and governments turn out on close inspection to not have actually proven themselves able to do the work! They are "experts" and "scientists" but not experts or scientists.

nemo 5y ago

Whatever discipline you're working in, you could invite uninformed strangers to educate you about your job and your field for a while and see how that goes. Experts benefit from their expertise which include being taken seriously when discussing those areas of expertise (as well as being able to get jobs in specialized fields). Expertise is a good thing, it's because we encourage it that the world works as well as it does. We don't really have a meritocracy, but by moving scientific institutions towards judging, selecting, and hiring based on expertise, they've done better than in the past when there was more nepotism and favors at many research universities. Granting the benefit of the doubt to those who have proven themselves able to do the work is rational, to grant the benefit of the doubt to random people regarding their expertise is deeply foolish.

native_samples 5y ago
As a programmer who has worked in enterprise, financial contexts and a big tech firm, I can assure you I have never been lacking in random non-programmers "educating" me about how to do my job, sometimes through the medium of passing regulations that don't make any technical sense. The idea that experts don't get interfered with normally is an academic idea, a projection of for they think the world works everywhere. But fundamentally you're still conflating terms. Many people presented as experts by the academy, media and governments turn out on close inspection to not have actually proven themselves able to do the work! They are "experts" and "scientists" but not experts or scientists.