Do you think it can be an curse to be an expert at many things, such as...?

Question

An audiophile - these people drive me nuts because they are NEVER happy with speaker's sound quality, or a CD's sound quality and 10000 other things that i don't understand nor ever WANT to understand. I can enjoy music from a 3 dollar radio or a 30,000 dollar stereo, and so i am happier than the expert.

An expert on cars or a certain system from a car. I have seen people who whine and scream about a little noise coming from the exhaust or from the motor or they feel the car lurch once in a while, and i never notice it. These people suffer immensely because they are annoyed by a little noise that means nothing. And no, their car never breaks down, but they just hate the sound it's making.

And many other examples too of hobbyists and anal-retentive Obsessive Compulsive souls who go thru life miserable because they know too much. Are we better off not being experts?

Answer 1

Oil field trash is correct. These people are NOT experts at all. They are just Critics. Critics are not the ones who invents the gadgets, design the circuits and perform the simulations and develop the manufacturing processes and make the various trade-offs between cost and performance, or what is called the REAL Engineer. A Toyota has far more engineering complexity than an expensive BMW. As you said, they are obsessive compulsive critics who are at the bottom of the stack where if you can't DO, then you TEACH and when you can't teach you are a CRITIC.

Answer 2

Because someone rants about a small imperfection in a system or piece of equipment doesn't make them an expert. It just means they are whiners. No matter what the circumstances they will gripe about something.



A true expert knows the attributes of a system or piece of equipment and understands if a minor problem is fixable or just something that can't be eliminated.



I have hired many consultants over the years to provide expert information and advice. I have found them to be very valuable and well worth having around. We can't all be experts in all things so they provide what is needed to fill in our gaps in knowledge or experience even if on occasion they are a real pain in the neck.

Answer 3

Let me give an example why it's better to be an expert. Common thinking says if you have high cholesterol you need to take a statin drug to reduce cholesterol to normal levels. But if you get beyond the sound bite and understand the subtleties, nuances, and details, you know that the presence of inflammation causes the body to increase the production of cholesterol, which is needed to fix the problem. If you shut down the production of cholesterol by taking a statin drug, the damage runs rampant and you increase the chance of getting a heart attack. Cholesterol is not the cause of the problem, it's merely a symptom or a marker of a real problem.



So which would you rather be? Someone who only has a superficial understanding and is therefore subject to exploitation? Or someone who has a deep understanding? I know which one I would rather be. Does it sometimes make you whine or scream at the greed, corruption, and widespread incompetence when you see the truth? Of course! But is it worth it in the long run? That's up to each one of us to decide. Could being an expert be annoying to others? I think you have addressed that sufficiently in your question. Do I care that you are annoyed by my understanding of subtleties, nuances, and details? I think you know the answer to that.

Answer 4

I believe we are better off being experts, but being an expert means that you can do something to affect the outcome, not complain about it.



Therefore, I allow myself to become more of an expert at life every day.