This piece was tough to write, in part because it addresses an issue in psychiatry for one of its core examples—and I take very seriously not wanting to disrupt other people’s paths to wellness.
Still, many scientific fields have met with serious setbacks as of late, which can be difficult to translate to critical policy changes. That disconnect can create a crisis of expertise--at least, if we forget what “knowledge” really is, and how to practise it better every day.
https://open.substack.com/pub/mlclark/p/the-end-of-expertise-the-beginning
@MLClark ty for his link.. skimmed briefly, very interesting.
(to return to incentive structure... human survival is now a derivative ;)
re what I skimmed of Erik... fall of psych: I often thought it was an existential mistake of psych to model itself after the hard sciences - or that at least the tools to quantify the human experience, in its myriad forms, aren't yet available.
I was using 128 ch EEG and collecting repeatable 120 Hz+ activity - but dismissed as artifact by "establishment"
@MLClark "Be wary of anyone who treats authority as easily transferable from one topic to another." That immediately resonated with me in regards to the "experts" quoted by anti-vaxxers and anti global warmists. Few, if any, have no training in the subjects - their specialties lay in entirely unrelated fields. It's a common tactic that relies on someone having a doctorate in one area commenting on another unrelated area but are supposed to be authoritative because of that Dr. moniker.
And it works, because far too many people invoke authority without interrogating *what* makes that person or organization authoritative.
Critical thinking skills are difficult to acquire later in life - and yet, even plenty of people who learned them once can still forget them if they're not kept in routine use.
We're a silly, fragile bunch, no?
@MLClark indeed we are
"things are gonna slide
in all directions,
there is nothing can be
measured anymore.
Leonard Cohen, The Future
https://youtu.be/LYzPVKg3wyo
Cohen is always the correct answer. 👌 I've been humming "You Want It Darker" for weeks now to myself.
it's the time, yes, the kairos.
Also, @Merlin, if you don't follow Erik Hoel, I do think you'd enjoy his writing, based especially on our last conversation.
I had a piece of his linked in the above newsletter, but instead of making you go fishing for it in my dreck, here's Hoel talking about how consciousness studies have skewed overall neuroscience research, for better and for worse. (If you haven't read it yet already, mind you; I wouldn't be surprised if you already know of and follow him!)
https://www.theintrinsicperspective.com/p/neuroscience-is-pre-paradigmatic