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Re:LK-99 isn’t a superconductor – how science sleuths solved... by godelski on Wednesday August 16, 2023 @01:37PM (#37150636)
Oh for sure. Expertise is exceptionally narrow. It's not a super low variance value, as there is spillover (physics/concepts/math/whatever share many similar principles), but most people __vastly__ underestimate the depth and complexity of any given topic, no matter how mundane and simple it may seem. I mean a good example is that you'll find books on o-rings, nails, screws, bolts, etc that are individually over a thousand pages. Hell, The Art of Electronics -- a book this community is probably more familiar with -- is a fucking godsend, but even being over 1k pages and generally a reference manual it is still lacking. Even if you get the second book (X Chapters) with an additional 500 pages!

This is also why experts can often sniff one another out on online forums like this. There's a subtly to the language that is used which conveys an understanding of many deeper nuances than were a novice or even someone with a undergraduate would use to discuss a topic. There's a common misnomer that you don't understand something unless you can explain it to a layman (probably invented by a layman to justify their lack of understanding), but accuracy and complexity are tightly coupled. A concept with x% accuracy has a minimum of y complexity. But also knowing this can help you sniff out experts in fields you aren't also an expert in, but of course your classification accuracy drops since you are introducing more noise. Still, a useful guide if you're trying to figure out who to listen to. Obviously much easier said than done.

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