Respecting expertise is important. Even if you assert something based on intuition, there is a high possibility of being wrong. In situations like Politics, Scientific Literacy, and COVID-19, this thought comes to mind. However, remaining silent may not be the right approach. I’ve been recently struggling with what to do in such situations.
Here, an implicit logic of “remaining silent when there is a high possibility of being wrong” is at work (takker). Maybe we should examine the validity of this logic? (blu3mo) Hmmm (takker). There are definitely cases where it is not good to remain silent, especially when communicating with society at large. For example, tweeting something that was thought of casually as if it were a correct assertion, or when non-experts talk about non-specialized topics in the mass media.
In other cases, even if it is incorrect, I think it’s okay to make assertions. It’s easier for others to criticize flawed assertions than perfect ones, like throwing a “masakari” (a Japanese term for constructive criticism) at them. Through such criticism, you can become aware of perspectives you hadn’t considered and make corrections, following the PDCA cycle.
The same thing was mentioned in I’m not good at interfering with others when I’m not sure if I’m right. I didn’t realize that (takker).
Hiroshi Yuki (@hyuki) says:
I think one of the meanings of learning something even a little bit specialized is to have a healthy respect for experts. This is because we see many examples where “common sense would suggest A, but proper research shows it’s actually B.” In the case of a field that we are not familiar with, it means not easily judging the statements of experts based on our own “common sense.” https://twitter.com/hyuki/status/1413307408043024385
It’s the same discussion as “There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact” (Arthur Conan Doyle). Discuss this claim with reference to two areas of knowledge..