“In an argument between a specialist and a generalist, the expert usually wins by simply (1) using unintelligible jargon, and (2) citing their specialist results, which are often completely irrelevant to the discussion. The expert is, therefore, a potent factor to be reckoned with in our society. Since experts both are necessary and also at times do great harm in blocking significant progress, they need to be examined closely. All too often the expert misunderstands the problem at hand, but the generalist cannot carry though their side to completion. The person who thinks they understand the problem and does not is usually more of a curse (blockage) than the person who knows they do not understand the problem.’ —Richard W. Hamming, “The Art of Doing Science and Engineering”
***
(Side note:
I think there’s at least a 10% chance that a randomly selected LessWrong user thinks it was worth their time to read at least some of the chapters in this book. Significantly more users would agree that it was a good use of their time (in expectation) to skim the contents and introduction before deciding if they’re in that 10%.
That quote rings very, very true. I’ve seen experts just sort of pull rank frequently, in the rare cases I either have expertise in the field or can clearly see that they’re not addressing the generalists real question.
If you’d care to review it at all in more depth we’d probably love that. At least saying why we’d find it a good use of our time would be helpful. That one insight gives a clue to the remaining value, but I’d like a little more clue.
“In an argument between a specialist and a generalist, the expert usually wins by simply (1) using unintelligible jargon, and (2) citing their specialist results, which are often completely irrelevant to the discussion. The expert is, therefore, a potent factor to be reckoned with in our society. Since experts both are necessary and also at times do great harm in blocking significant progress, they need to be examined closely. All too often the expert misunderstands the problem at hand, but the generalist cannot carry though their side to completion. The person who thinks they understand the problem and does not is usually more of a curse (blockage) than the person who knows they do not understand the problem.’
—Richard W. Hamming, “The Art of Doing Science and Engineering”
***
(Side note:
I think there’s at least a 10% chance that a randomly selected LessWrong user thinks it was worth their time to read at least some of the chapters in this book. Significantly more users would agree that it was a good use of their time (in expectation) to skim the contents and introduction before deciding if they’re in that 10%.
That is to say, I recommend this book.)
That quote rings very, very true. I’ve seen experts just sort of pull rank frequently, in the rare cases I either have expertise in the field or can clearly see that they’re not addressing the generalists real question.
If you’d care to review it at all in more depth we’d probably love that. At least saying why we’d find it a good use of our time would be helpful. That one insight gives a clue to the remaining value, but I’d like a little more clue.