Death of the Expert

[Five Seasons]

while I hear what you're saying, I don't think you can put the title of "expert" on something that you are constantly learning....if it's something like a skill, then maybe you can assume that title. I've been hunting for 30+ years, and although I may consider myself knowledgeable, I am certainly no expert because I have an open mind and learn something new all the time.

Expert does not mean flawless or perfect. Every expert I've ever meant will tell you there's always room to learn and get better.

Understood. I'm quite ready to keep my mouth shut and listen when someone with expertise speaks. That's how I've become somewhat 'expert' in many of my pursuits.

But what happens when the experts are found to be lying and hiding their lies behind their labels of being experts? It's happening right now in a number of areas in government. Is it wrong for me to question the validity of their arguments when I know they're lying, even though they're considered experts in their fields?

I guess that's the point. An expert I trust has my ear, but an expert I don't trust will likely get an earful. Unfortunately there are are a lot of experts out there who need to be closely scrutinized, hence I question them. Blind faith hasn't been a part of my makeup for a long while now, and fielding questions from non-experts has become a routine part of life. That's how future experts are grown.

Very valid points and certainly something to always consider. In life there are always outliers. The best example in the article is the mom arguing against vaccines with no knowledge on the subject but her own experience and refuting the knowledge of numerous doctors and scientists. She may also feel she's arguing with someone she knows is wrong, when in fact it's her blindness.

[Five Seasons]

My opinion is that a true expert would never proclaim themselves to be one. Only the people who successfully employ their services and advice can claim them to be such.

After putting 41 hunting seasons behind me I'm no more an expert at hunting now than I was my first hunting season. I'm still learning almost every time I go in the woods. Am I knowledgeable, yes. Successful, yes. Expert, no way. I'll leave others to make that claim.

You're first paragraph is spot on, but I disagree that you're not more knowledgable and a better Hunter now than when you first started.

[Mr VJP]

I often heard it said, "Some people have 20 years of experience, some have 1 year of experience 20 years over."

 

[NFA-ADK]

Just because you do something for 20 or 30 years does not make you an expert but if you dive in head first and consistently gain knowledge on the subject year after year you tend to become an expert in that field.  This comes from reading, watching videos and most importantly going afield and applying that knowledge with your gain experience and insight. 

 

I know many people who consider themselves experts that are not.  Most experts do not need the tittle because they know where they stand. 

 

EX:  In my camp a few of my buddies consider me the expert.  Do I proclaim that tittle, hell NO!  But as the one who has engulfed myself in deer hunting and they have been engulfed in family it is only natural.  (I spend more time in the woods with deer and study the subject more then all 8 hunting friends do combined.)  The ones that think I have the expert tittle know this, hence to them I am the expert. 

 

Being an expert does not mean you know everything,(Thanks Belo, I could not have said it any better) it means you are very knowledgeable on the subject, more than most casual people tend to be.  Moon phase is a perfect example of how "Experts" can disagree. 

 

Take what you do for a living as an example:  I use to be an auto tech.  You start as a C tech, after 1-3 years you become a B tech and after another 10 years or so you become and A tech.  Computers are the same way you have level 1-2-3, the top levels are considered experts even if they do not have the tittle.

 

Just because someone is an expert does not make them right.  Getting back to Moon phase.  So many of us agree with this and just as many disagree, I guess if you can verify something then in your mind that is proof and the other experts must be wrong.  But they are still experts...

 

My buddy who hunts LI almost exclusively is an expert at residential hunting.  He has killed hundreds of deer but he is not an expert on deer hunting in general.   This type of expertise is in a particularly narrow area.  Put him upstate where the trails are not beaten down to dirt and put him on the ground and he would be at a loss on how to hunt.  Yet he is still an expert.  Go figure!