oliver9184

...that no matter who you are, what you know and where you go there will ALWAYS be someone that knows more about a given subject than you do? Discount famous people like Stephen Hawking etc from this. I mean out of general average internet users.

It irritates me sometimes. I want to be the expert that knows more than everyone. I don't even care what about so long as it's not something boring and general like computers or auto mechanics.

Perfect example: submarines. I probably know quite a bit more about them than the average member of the public but there's always something else to know. Who's the world expert on submarines past and present? Some navy academic?

(sorry if this is not the right forum for this, I put it here as it seemed the least damaging place if I got it wrong, feel free to move it if you want to, or can)

shesus

I don't know if there are actually gurus on any one topic. It's the internet so some people will exaggerate or even lie because it's a safe fantasy environment for some.

I mean, I could easily say I'm an expert on something. Go to Wikipedia read up on it and then regurgitate what I just learned. You wouldn't be any the wiser except to think...Wow, she know a lot about that.

Everyone is truly knowledgeable on at least one topics, but no one knows it all. I find the people that are the smartest are those that acknowledge that there is always more to learn.

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JumpinJesus

You're right, oliver. It gets annoying sometimes. Someone will post a thread and I think I know a whole fucking lot about the subject, so I respond, thinking I'm an authority on the topic, then someone else comes along and corrects errors that I've made.

But, you know, it's like that old adage: there's always going to be someone smarter, bigger, better, whatever....When do I get to be that someone?

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roachboy

one thing i have learned over time is that it makes no sense to imagine yourself as "the best" or "the number 1" in a field. this simply because

(a) there is no pyramid hierarchy out there--so there is no reason to pretend there is one--so there is no rationale for thinking about what you do in terms of competition--because there is no game.

(b) it is not at all obvious that the range of people that you know about in a given area is the range of all people who engage in that area--so saying that you are "the best pianist" (for example) is just idiotic---there are so many players out there...no matter which (arbitrary) criterion you decide to use to measure abilities or capacities, there is bound to be a host of folk out there who will smoke you. and even if that's not the case, it still doesnt do anything to imagine yourself in some competition with others: it changes nothing about what you do. it changes nothing about how you do it. but it can make you annoying at cocktail parties. you how it goes: you have a couple martinis because you're nervous and then all you say to everyone you meet is: "yes yes, but let's talk about me."


(c) generally the more you know about an area the more detailed your awareness becomes of the many many things you dont know. its as if half the function of acquiring information is to inform you in more and better detail of all the you still dont know. and if you research something, this relation of information to refining your understanding of what you dont know just repeats itself. it never seems to end, this dynamic.

but it will keep you (somewhat) modest once you figure it out for yourself and accept that this is the case.

just do what interest you and keep doing it. that's what matters.
size queen anxiety concerning your information storage and retrieval functions is silly. and unnecessary.

if you generate stuff that leads other people to consider you an expert, that only designates the perception of other people of what you're doing. it changes nothing about the doing. and that's what matters. that's what you live with and through. people can think what they want--for the most part their judgments are arbitrary. just do what you do because you want to do it.

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EaseUp

In general, when someone tells me they know everything about a given subject, it's time to find a new expert on that subject.

ngdawg

We can take a lifetime to learn and still not know everything about everything.
I quote a former doctor quite often: "As much as we know, we don't know even more."
I wouldn't want to be an expert on any one thing-that'd mean there's something I didn't learn about. I embrace correction, even when I don't react to it well, because it's more knowledge gained.
Don't be irritated by not being smarter than most, pick the brains of those who are smarter and rise to a higher and better level of knowledge. Screw being an 'expert'.

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aberkok

In my field, the real experts are delighted to find someone that knows more than them. The attitude of being annoyed with those that are more expert is a very closed mentality that no one should have. I suggest you get off it fast.

Consider also that you can learn a lot from those than know less than you about something. Just because you might know more (which is hard to quantify anyway in a serious field), doesn't mean you learned everything along the way.

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loller123

It depends on the subject.

If the topic is an obscure one, like how much your feet smells I'll guess yourself is the expert, or something is very weird then.

World's King

There is one thing you know more about then anyone else.



Yourself.

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Midnight

I'd rather run into 4 people with qualitative knowledge on a subject as opposed to 1 person with a quantitative knowledge on the same. and thats usually where I find myself running into people online - you will have a number of people - each with a generalized knowledge on a subject, but each having their own area of expertise. It's always nice to be in a room with people like that - because there will be a lot of knowledge sharing and debate on the merits of one area over another.

I don't think there should be, if there is, one person who is the beat all end all person to go to on any subject. makes finding what you want a little bit limiting, don't you think?

Daniel_

There's always someone who knows more than everyone else on any subject.

It's often me.

Now - remind me - where does pride come, again?

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albania

It seems kind of silly to worry about trivial knowledge. Since, you know it's trivial. If you truly want to learn something make it you're life's work or hobby and as roachboy said don't worry about how others perceive your progress.

Plan9

Who gives a fuck if someone knows more than you?

Knowledge is a never-ending rope climb of the useful and trivial.

Who cares about knowledge in it of itself?

You are what you do.

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Brewmaniac

As a wise man/woman once said, you learn something new everyday.

I know I do!

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kutulu

That pretty much sums up the internet. A bunch of people thinking they know more about one subject than anyone else.