Share: Expert Opinions?

Listening to Morning Edition today... and this'n came up: "Being Labeled an Expert..."

Growing up in a family with close ties to academia (my mother is an anthropology professor) gave me an intuitive grasp of how the psychology of that little NPR blip plays out: I can't tell you how many professorial garden parties I've had to roll my eyes at over time. The problem is that the more you inhabit the role of someone in authority, the more you believe you are the authority. If you've explained something the same way thousands of times then it's hard to change your opinion on it. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who may still be surprised to find out that many dinosaurs sprouted feathers, looked like absurd ostriches, ran around hot-blooded, and lived in arctic environments.

I have to say: this is why I don't self-describe myself as a luthier (and hence: ratified, card-carrying expert) and why I always try to keep an open mind about instruments and instrument design no matter how lowly or lofty. I don't think there's truly any right way to do something in this field, though there are degrees of success depending on how you do the work and what choices you make when doing it.

Perhaps that sounds like postmodernist jargon -- but, really -- what progress has come by doing something the same way over and over and over and having the same problems crop up down the road?