The Trouble with Experts
An Axe To Grind Makes Truth Hard to Find
Why I Love Amateurs
rant by JP
Conflicts of interest. No one should ever be trusted if they have an interest at stake which they are not overtly confessing at the same time.
Why? Because if they have an ulterior motive one way or another, then what they are saying is usually A LIE and involved in some way with that hidden agenda. Oh, it might be mainly true, but maybe not. The hidden agenda skews the results. If it’s not calculated into the equation to start with, the answer is wrong. It can’t be any other way. Of course, it’s an engineering world and close counts…most of the time. This idea helps me see how sometimes ‘close’ turns into ‘opposite’–yet still has all the authority a System can give it.
What are some examples of conflicts which have poisoned us?
You cannot believe what an expert says if: a job is at stake, any future advancement might be affected, a reputation is involved, a budgetary matter applies, or any other money or legal matter whether for risk or gain, nor can you trust if pride is involved, if someone’s confidence, worldview or opinion hinges on the outcome. And not just for him! If any of these things apply to any of his friends, relatives, bosses, rivals or enemies—if this is so and he does not say it as an explicit caveat to what else he is saying, then watch out. The trouble is that this need not conflict with what he’s saying being accepted, with the budget passing, the law passing. Because what the expert says WINS. We have to go with someone’s word, right? It’s an emergency! Who has the credentials? Well, there you have it. Done deal. The budget to study will be tripled. I’ll take that operation, Doctor! If a heel-lift is all I need, well, so be it!
How many people stand behind the statements of such a person is immaterial. It may be more or less, depending on whether they stand to gain or lose as well. I don’t blame any of them. I just need to know that it’s happening. Whew, now I’m safe!
Here’s a sample disclaimer an expert might use: “My views change every number of years. Research contradicts. That’s science and that’s OK–you trust it if you want to. Also, if I tell you one thing, I make money, if I tell you another, I lose my job. What I say is true to the best of my knowledge, minus anything that could put me at risk, hurt my friends, help my enemies or put me in either a bad light or not as good a light as I’d like. I have an axe to grind.”
Amateurs usually already say such a thing. They start with you on a human basis. If they offer advice, there’s no guarantee or purpose other than helping you. Then you in turn might help them. A culture is built. But an expert comes with an automatic assumed guarantee. Heck, they’re liable! But really it’s just convention at work. Sometimes for better, other times for worse. (Could a Congress full of lawyers ever *really* pass restrictions on litigation? Oh, never mind.)
I suppose nowadays only fools need a warning such as the above. –Those who believe that science and authority are without bias. –That a cop, teacher, judge, mayor, coach, professor, witness–anyone–can afford to tell you the truth. Candor is dangerous! It doesn’t fit the job description. It’s not bad…it’s just that nowadays people get image mixed up with fact. (Hey, Mom, Sheriff Smith is fighting hard against crime!) (It’s not a better bike…it’s an *ad*.)
When you trust people or imagery, you’re playing the odds. I’m happy to trust a doctor within reason. But in the end you are 100% responsible for any fact you think you know and any event that results therefrom. –It’s your life, baby, even though our culture has decided to divy out responsibility for you to everybody else, thence to the state where it is gathering….
So when you read a story called “The End of Childhood” which laments various things that are happening to ‘our’ children, and you have a child, there really isn’t any such End that has happened unless you’ve allowed it to for that child. If ‘they’ say computers are good teaching tools for your kid, that doesn’t make it true. Even if ‘tests show…’
Any sailor worth his salt knows that you should be friends with everyone, trust no one.
