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Who are generally not experts, in point of fact. They're the guys who have hung around experts but never actually developed any expertise. Talk the talk, couldn't even find the path to walk on.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 11:08:41 AM EST
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So the guy from SciAm got it wrong, you can actually tell the difference between an expert and a fake if you're an expert?

When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 11:10:47 AM EST
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No, he said that as long as you keep away from doing the real thing you can't necessarily tell the difference. No maths questions, remember?
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 11:13:27 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Expertise should be measured by effectiveness, not by media noise.

And I'd like a pink pony.

Meanwhile in the real world, expertise is measured almost exclusively by media noise - at the big media scale, and also at the small science scale, where you can talk crap and still be published in peer reviewed papers, and you can have some original ideas which never make it past peer review.

So what is an expert, exactly? And how can you tell the difference (if you're not a chicken)?

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 11:18:11 AM EST
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Pink's very hard to get stains out of you know.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 11:34:51 AM EST
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Is that an expert comment, a dilettante comment, or a think tank comment?
by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 02:08:50 PM EST
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I think it's a quote from Readers Letters in the Home Decor weekly. An entirely new category, I believe?

You can't be me, I'm taken
by Sven Triloqvist on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 02:27:17 PM EST
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Does that mean they're dilettantes?

I think I'm confused about who I'm supposed to be scorning.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 11:11:53 AM EST
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They're the ones the mass media tout as experts, they're the ones that get into the official agencies and government positions, and that's what matters to me. The rest is scholastics.
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 11:14:33 AM EST
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