On the Fallacies of Professional Experts

by Lee Duane FitzSimmons

New skill sets of technical prowess should be created within all fields of human endeavor. These skill sets can be created by improving older skill sets or by creating skill sets that are brand new. These types of accomplishments should be the norm and not the exception to the rule. Unfortunately, many individuals feel that they lack the necessary ability to perform these operations. However, new skills are often invented by amateurs and are sometimes discovered by accident or mere coincidence, so attempting to develop a new set of skills should not be viewed as an impossibility in any way, shape, or form.

Also, it should be realized that the opinions of most professionals should usually be taken with a grain of salt. Although there are many brilliant minds in most fields of endeavor, a large amount of professional experts are unimaginative hacks. This phenomenon is even more common in areas that require heavy amounts of detailed minutia to be cognized and mastered before a skill set can be acquired. The nature of such intense study often leaves little time for imaginative flights of creative fantasy. Thus, by the time that adequate mastery of technique has been developed to form a skill set, different types of creative weariness will often take hold of such individuals.

It should also be realized that there are many professional experts who desire to continue gaining privilege without having to spend time constantly developing their skill sets. Therefore, they tend to belittle any new discoveries made within their fields. This sort of behavior is even more applicable to situations where real progress and actual discoveries are being made at an extremely slow rate. It is also important to note that when a professional expert's financial sources are threatened, this individual will usually attack these threats. With all of this in mind, it is quite easy to see why the opinions of many professional experts should be closely scrutinized.

Therefore, the creative individual should constantly strive to invent completely new approaches and techniques in one's field of study. These inventions should be created while mastering the knowledge and skills that are already in use. Even though these attempts will often end in failure, they still give an individual invaluable knowledge and experience. Also, when a real discovery is truly found, the growth of the person making the discovery will probably begin to increase in a more exponential fashion. This phenomenon would especially be true if there are many ways that the new discovery could be applied to other already mastered areas of expertise.

Thus, one should almost always question the opinions of professional experts and should have no additional respect for them other than what is normal for any person. If their accomplishments have merit, then those merits can be used as learning tools and study guides; otherwise, their opinions should be viewed with critical skepticism. Professional experts are humans with human flaws.

Therefore, it is crucial to separate the proven accomplishments of an individual from the actual individual.

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