“How’d you RATE your EXPERTISE?”
I think this is an EXCELLENT question to ask oneself,
or to ask someone,
when you’re trying to determine the REALITY,
make DECISIONS,
decide what is TRUE and what is not,
decide what is PLAUSIBLE and HOW PLAUSIBLE
How’d you rate your EXPERTISE, 1 to 10?
Now of course it’s not so easy to QUANTIFY expertise,
In truth, there’s not much we can ever TRULY quantify,
We merely approximate the reality in our quantifications,
For instance: when you MEASURE the temperature — you don’t really know the temperature. You only know it’s approximation. Between that approximation and reality — there’s the measurement error
And we’re pretty good at measuring temperature,
What’s the thermometer for EXPERTISE?
There is none, obviously
We at best define the criteria and then analyse through that lens,
And
now I’m asking you, the NON-EXPERT,
to RATE YOUR EXPERTISE
And yet,
Mere attempt to reify this abstract concept,
to put a number on it,
forces a degree of discipline
Are you REALLY qualified for those strong opinions, if you are no more than 6/10 EXPERT?
As a 7/10 expert — do you really think you’re in position to impugn the consensus?
If you’re 4/10, if you think you’re “no expert” — then why the FUCK you think I should listen to your fucking opinion?
ah it’s because you’re an entertainer, a comic, you’re “just asking questions”, like a whore in a tik tok video “just” dancing and having fun
Are you really 8/10?
Then explain WHAT WOULD IT TAKE to reach 10/10?
Can you even articulate such position?
Or is your 8/10 just Dunning-Kruger–style 8/10?
Is 5/10 “good enough”, or is it 6/10?
This one is interesting
I argued that we can’t escape our CLUELESSNESS — because we have to MAKE DECISIONS
We can’t escape uncertainty. We must LIVE — EVEN THOUGH we don’t know HOW TO, and WHAT to do
…But you can be fully aware that you’re 4/10 certain… but must act anyway,
vs thinking you’re an 8/10 expert… EVEN THOUGH you’re NOT even IN NEED of that UNDERSTANDING. Because it has 0 BEARING on your life
it MERELY serves to make you FEEL like you’re KNOWING,
it merely allows you to HAVE OPINIONS
Therefore do ask yourself,
and ask others:
“How’d you rate your EXPERIENCE?”
“How’d you rate your EXPERTISE?”
“How’d you rate your UNDERSTANDING?”
etc
Ask others you’re debating,
It could be a lovely trick
I don’t like tricks, winning debates is a stupid game
But it could be an excellent response to fundamental disagreement about the foundations, basics,
If the claims they are making require 8/10 knowledge — then unless you’re 8/10 or 9/10 — you can’t really refute them
actually it typically takes ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE more UNDERSTANDING to refute plausible sounding nonsense
But you can THEN ask them:
“How’d you rate your expertise, from 1 to 10?”
and if they respond with 8 — you can quickly prove it’s NOWHERE NEAR
and if they respond with something more reasonable, even 7/10…
you can then ask them how is that SUFFICIENT to make those claims,
and what’s the likelihood of a number of 8/10 experts being wrong, and you being right
….and again I’m not saying experts are always right
The new PARADIGMS typically come from the outside, to some extent
But they are then STILL refined by the experts,
The 10/10 experts
And of course, before you say that “experts are compromised”, or “experts are bought”, or experts are “locked in their ivory tower”,
If you really care — this too can be easily verified
COMPARE THEIR CLAIMS WITH CLAIMS of WOULD-BE EXPERTS
And yes, you’ll find domains where it’s really hardly clear who is in the right, whose more accurate, etc.
That’s the scourge of social sciences, typically
But then there are domains where reality really is absolutely unavoidable
And the experts ABSOLUTELY “DUNK” on non-experts and would-be experts,
DUNK is the perfect analogy — for that’s literally how it looks
You think you’re good in basketball? Go play with LeBron. See whose good in basketball
You think you’re good at basketball? How’d you rate yourself in basketball? How’d you rate Mr LeBron at basketball?