Experts

I was talking to 'an expert' earlier this year who was full of interesting facts and information about our planet.
She was a member of the Flat Earth Society - very convincing!

Experts said women who learnt to type would collapse over the keyboard...........after years at work I think I did just that.

Critical thinking is the thing on all matters, every court case will how that out of a pair of experts one of them is always wrong.

It goes for all walks of life,from the so called elite down to the ordinary run of the mill.There will always be a self proclaimed expert,I usually make up my own mind,it usually only takes common sense and I pride myself with having plenty of that.

So much of the problem is that an experts opinion as presented on the media is so often selected excerpts from an interview or written statement'adjusted' to meet the requirements of the media broadcast. When 'experts' give opinions they will usually quote all the sources and reasoning that led to that decision - and their reservations. News and social media have no interest in this so just choose a few quick phrases. Googlers look for the short simple quote. They rarely research a topic properly

There has also been a concerted effort over recent years to make science and scientists, in the widest sense more 'accessible' so all announcements of new research are mediated through university press offices. DS is an academic and often fumes how press officers who do not understand the subject they are dealing with completely distort what the research he did was and what it meant.

Then experts are as much prone to holding deep prejudices and following fashionable memes as the rest of us. Most people know about the theory of plate tectonics - that the surface of the earth consists of plates that 'float' on the surface and move around, South America used to tuck gently into the bulge of Africa. This theory was not accepted until the 1950s when satellite photography finally proved it. The man who developed the theory in the early 20th century and whose ideas were dismissed as ridiculous, accepted that his theory had been developed before science was prepared to consider it and that it would not be accepted until long after his death in 1930.

I always smile when I recall HM the Queen's visit to the LSE shortly after the financial crash. She smiled her sweet smile and asked why so many experts had not foreseen it. Spot on Queenie. I always distrust economic forecasts because they are basically guesswork. I think it's healthy to question experts.

I think you are spot on Anya and that your reasoning is heightened by your viral infection. So called experts are trotted out at every opportunity if it suits ANY government's plans, and we have seen a lot of wrong predictions.Historians in particular are a mixed bag with their own theories to push.When DD was at Oxford (taking History) she saw this at first hand, the various dons did everything to overcome their rivals short of fist fights.Why should be trust them to predict the economic future?Even economists cannot do that with any certainty.

Niall Ferguson being a prime example of why the word expert is a joke in our house.
That's got me thinking about opinions that I have / had that I have changed my mind about.

It was interesting today to note that an expert in history who had extremely strong views on the EU referendum (strongly for remain and calling people who voted Brexit 'Ango-loonies'), presumably based on his extensive historical knowledge, has now changed his mind and realises that he is staunchly Brexit.

Is he more of an expert on this political question than Tom, Dick or Mary in the pub?
Professor Niall Ferguson:
inews.co.uk/essentials/news/uk/historian-niall-ferguson-i-wrong-support-remain/

What is considered to be 'an expert opinion' and 'scientific proof' eg in areas such as nutrition, may well prove to be dangerously wrong in years to come.
Perhaps we should take many 'experts' opinions' with a pinch of salt (but possibly not a very large one).

Absent I agree with 90% + of what you are saying (and I applaud your correct reference to Pope, which is so often misquoted)

I think one of the reasons that 'experts' are much maligned these days is that there have been increasing instances of them being proved wrong, especially those used by governments to uphold a point which in truth had not been proved. An example that beef was safe to eat when in fact there was a risk (albeit small) of vCJD.

Often 'experts' deal in speculation, and are trotted out by the media on almost every occasion.

So while I do take your point, especially re nutrition, medical issues, etc. I can understand the back lash against them in some quarters. It does take some level of understanding/experience/learning and the ability to pass information through a reality checker, qualities which the likes of the new UKIP leader (whose name escapes me), even with his advanced qualifications seems to lack,

I hope that was vaguely coherent as I'm dizzy with tiredness and viral infection. I'll doubtless read this in the morning and think 'did I really write that?'