Re: Unskilled and Unaware

Dear Andreas Most:

"Andreas Most" <Andreas.Most@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:dvbsj6$fvq$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
N:dlzc D:aol T:com (dlzc) wrote:
Dear Andreas Most:
....
But seriously. I was left with a rather disturbing
question after reading it. Facing the facts in this
article, how can we distinguish competence from
incompetence?

Nature does this "distinguishing" by killing an
organism that behaves incompetently. So we can
ask Nature to provide answers that pass/fail a
belief system.

That concerns skills that are necessary for survival
but how about skills that are not indispensable to
life (and the article mainly deals with such type of
skills without mentioning). Nature would not have
measures to control this.

Actually, Science requires/expects that the "organism" (in this
case a theory), be used to make a prediction (enter the realm of
Nature and perform a task). Survival doesn't always involve
"meat".

(BTW: Talking about skills indispensable to life.
Isn't it weird that the birth rate drops alarmingly
in the industrial countries where scientific and
engineering skills led to industrialization?)

Not really. Any time a species has thrived it is either
self-limited, limited by its available resources, or limited by
an agressor or two. We are marginally in self-limiting mode,
where briefs (keeping testes above optimal sperm production
temperature) and "social mores" keep birth rates low (available
contraception, disposable lifestyles, and homosexuality). We are
really close to the other two "negative feedback" modes also, of
course.

....
Could a group of people judge about
somebody's competence?

Witness "peer reviewed literature". Legally, yes,
such is done all the time. In Science, such is
done by repeating the experiment, and vetting
the results.

Yes, I agree. But I take it that this is a
pragmatical approach which works most of the
time but is not necessarily an absolute measure.
(e.g., reviewers could fail or experiment could
fool us) But maybe there is no absolute measure
for competence.

I agree with your last sentence, with the caveat that Nature can
always be relied upon to give an "honest opinion".

What if they
are incompetent themselves?
Seems, we have to stay humble ;-)

Always a good idea.

Anyway, my considerations are pretty philosophical
(or foolish) and I better "troll" away.

Vaya con Dios.

David A. Smith


.

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