Ok, so who then is the expert!

Here are a few suggestions. Please share any of your own.

I need to follow up on my Thursday blog.   I left things hanging.  It’s good advice to follow “expert” opinion, but how do you decide who is a reliable source. 

The easiest answer is only a partial answer.  The more an authority is officially credentialed in his or her field, the less risk you take.  There are national standards of accreditation.  Use them as a default position, but bear in mind that recognized authorities may be overly cautious, less well informed by new science and lacking in humility.  Still a good start, but all searches for the best authority in a field requires careful attention to more than good repute. 

Too great an emphasis on “certainty” is a red flag.  I look for humility, the willingness to keep an open mind.  Or some evidence that I’ve encountered a searching mind, a nuanced understanding.  Overt statements of caution and avoidance of dogma suggest you’re on the right track.  

Furthermore, watch out for that human frailty called “bias.”   Even people with good intentions are swayed by the personal experiences that come with long exposure to a problem as well as personal stakes in particular policies.  Ask yourself who they work for, what do they have to gain, how broad has been their experience, and their ownership of past decisions.

Also, key in on the “packaging.”  Anything too slick and professional, too expensive a presentation, suggests “interests” lurking behind the expert’s benign smile.   

And there is the tendency familiar to all of us, to lean toward what we either already believe or that we want to believe.  Sometimes it is as simple as being too friendly to the advice of people like ourselves—of our race, or religion or political party. 

And, finally, realize over and over again if it is too good to be true, it’s likely false.

There is, however, a caution to the last statement.  In a world of remarkable new science, technology and the accompanying rethinking of some traditional “truths, it pays to be curious about new ideas, which sometimes do sound too good to be true.  

Then I recommend one further “test.”  Discuss ideas with your friends.  Find people with identities and experiences enough unlike your own to provide honest feedback.  Not for the sake of getting angry or showing off your new “knowledge.”  We very often miss the obvious.  We can help each other as long as we are not trying to persuade each other. 

Don’t forget, though, the best advice of all.  It’s ancient wisdom.  Don’t anchor yourself to any viewpoint.  Don’t tie yourself to the mast.  Don’t go down with the ship.  I like the way James Russel Lowell put it,

New occasions teach new duties; 
Time makes ancient good uncouth;         
They must upward still, and onward, who would keep abreast of Truth;     
Lo, before us gleam her camp-fires! we ourselves must Pilgrims be,           
Launch our Mayflower, and steer boldly through the desperate winter sea, 
Nor attempt the Future's portal with the Past's blood-rusted key.