“Knowledge forbidden?
Suspicious, reasonless. Why should their Lord
Envy them that? Can it be a sin to know?
Can it be death?”
― John Milton, Paradise Lost
In a strange twist of internet fate, one of my general follows, Prof, Tom Nichols, posted a rather stirring rant on the Death of Expertise in which he laments the "democratization of knowledge".
He then proceeds to give various examples that are generally true i.e. surgeons, mechanics, etc. I mean, who would you rather have performing your brain surgery? Your mechanic or a highly trained neuro-surgeon with years of experience?
An excellent point, however, it misses a bit of the history that goes along with that including the fact that it was barely a hundred and fifty years ago that physicians started to wash their hands between patients and before performing surgery. An idea that was pioneered by none other than a woman, Florence Nightingale, with a small amount of practical nursing education and who was, as often as not, told to run along and mind her betters. The male doctors, of course, who had gone to University and knew much better how to treat patients than a mere female with a two year education in how to change bed clothes.
Her counter-part in the United States, Clara Barton, had similar experiences during the Civil War and went on to form the American Red Cross. The American Red Cross which teaches basic first aid to anyone and everyone who will sign up for the lessons. First aid techniques, mind you, that even the doctors of a hundred and fifty years ago did not know or use resulting in enumerable deaths, permanent disfigurations and amputations.
Now this same information is literally at our fingertips, an app on the cell phone that provides information on basic first aid. This is not the same as being a qualified doctor today, ready to do brain surgery, but every man or woman has the information making them comparable to the average field doctor during the Crimean and Civil War. It also important to note that simply having the information on performing basic first aid is better than not having it, but it is also not the same as having practiced those techniques. Practice making everything better, even for the layman.
Indeed, the very idea of pushing knowledge of basic first aid and basic medical care has been embraced by none other than the United States military which teaches basic Combat Life Saver skills to every soldier. The idea being that some basic first aid and medical care provided in the first few minutes of injury helps extend "the golden hour"; the period of time where effective medical treatment is more likely to insure survival of the soldier.
This flattening of information and democratization of knowledge has resulted in a fortuitous and necessary change to the medical profession. The human population has been out pacing the education and availability of physicians. Most importantly, "general practitioners"; those physicians who once treated a plethora of patients for every sort of basic ailment from broken bones to bacterial infections.
Now these same basic treatments are performed by nurses and nurse practitioners. Anything from stitches to prescribing an antibiotic is being performed by nurses. This isn't only due to the outpacing of the population, but also economical. Many physicians are finding it more financially equitable to specialize in such fields as...you guessed...neurosurgery or the endocrine system or cardio-pulmonary or...the list goes on.
At the same time, there's a recognized decrease in the value of such basic knowledge like setting stitches as the rate of reimbursement for these services indicates all too clearly. Some are lamenting this as a "degeneration" of health care when it is actually the natural and even necessary progression of the profession. Furthermore, certain procedures have been performed by nurses for years without anyone noticing or giving any official recognition. At the same time, procedures and activities once considered the domain of nurses, like taking temperatures, blood pressure readings or wound dressing, have devolved to med techs and certified nurse's assistants (CNAs).
What's this all mean, really?
There are two things going on here; two things which Prof. Nichols conflates: one, the flattening of information and, two, the democratization of knowledge.
"Flattening of information" means that anyone can look up and obtain information on any subject. In the illustration above, this is represented by the availability of Red Cross first aid classes and the first aid app on the cell phone. While it is subject to misuse and blunders, the mere fact of this information existing for every man, woman and child to peruse, exponentially increases human health and survivability.
"Knowledge" and "information" are two different concepts. "Knowledge" means not only having the information, but knowing how to use it, typically by experience and training. The "democratization of knowledge" means that more and more people receive some form of training or education in a multitude of subjects on a plethora of plains.
As this knowledge is pushed down and out to a greater number of people (democratization), it allows more professionals to become even more specialized, dare I say, "experts" in ever more defined fields. This focus and specialization invariably leads to the same conclusion: not the failure of the system or a threat to human survival, but an exponential increase in the longevity of human civilization.
In short, you may not want your mechanic to perform your brain surgery, but, if your car falls on the mechanic's leg and amputates it at the knee, your mechanic may appreciate your ability to tie a tourniquet, apply pressure, elevate his leg above his head and call 9-1-1.
For the professor on his lament for the death of expertise, the devaluation of his PhD and the continuing battle with the unwise, I feel your pain, but leave you with these parting words:
Suspicious, reasonless. Why should their Lord
Envy them that? Can it be a sin to know?
Can it be death?”
― John Milton, Paradise Lost
In a strange twist of internet fate, one of my general follows, Prof, Tom Nichols, posted a rather stirring rant on the Death of Expertise in which he laments the "democratization of knowledge".
But democracy, as I wrote in an essay about C.S. Lewis and the Snowden affair, denotes a system of government, not an actual state of equality. Having equal rights does not mean having equal talents, equal abilities, or equal knowledge. It means, instead, that we enjoy equal rights versus the government, and in relation to each other.
It assuredly does not mean that “everyone’s opinion about anything is as good as anyone else’s,” because no one really lives that way.
He then proceeds to give various examples that are generally true i.e. surgeons, mechanics, etc. I mean, who would you rather have performing your brain surgery? Your mechanic or a highly trained neuro-surgeon with years of experience?
An excellent point, however, it misses a bit of the history that goes along with that including the fact that it was barely a hundred and fifty years ago that physicians started to wash their hands between patients and before performing surgery. An idea that was pioneered by none other than a woman, Florence Nightingale, with a small amount of practical nursing education and who was, as often as not, told to run along and mind her betters. The male doctors, of course, who had gone to University and knew much better how to treat patients than a mere female with a two year education in how to change bed clothes.
Her counter-part in the United States, Clara Barton, had similar experiences during the Civil War and went on to form the American Red Cross. The American Red Cross which teaches basic first aid to anyone and everyone who will sign up for the lessons. First aid techniques, mind you, that even the doctors of a hundred and fifty years ago did not know or use resulting in enumerable deaths, permanent disfigurations and amputations.
Now this same information is literally at our fingertips, an app on the cell phone that provides information on basic first aid. This is not the same as being a qualified doctor today, ready to do brain surgery, but every man or woman has the information making them comparable to the average field doctor during the Crimean and Civil War. It also important to note that simply having the information on performing basic first aid is better than not having it, but it is also not the same as having practiced those techniques. Practice making everything better, even for the layman.
Indeed, the very idea of pushing knowledge of basic first aid and basic medical care has been embraced by none other than the United States military which teaches basic Combat Life Saver skills to every soldier. The idea being that some basic first aid and medical care provided in the first few minutes of injury helps extend "the golden hour"; the period of time where effective medical treatment is more likely to insure survival of the soldier.
This flattening of information and democratization of knowledge has resulted in a fortuitous and necessary change to the medical profession. The human population has been out pacing the education and availability of physicians. Most importantly, "general practitioners"; those physicians who once treated a plethora of patients for every sort of basic ailment from broken bones to bacterial infections.
Now these same basic treatments are performed by nurses and nurse practitioners. Anything from stitches to prescribing an antibiotic is being performed by nurses. This isn't only due to the outpacing of the population, but also economical. Many physicians are finding it more financially equitable to specialize in such fields as...you guessed...neurosurgery or the endocrine system or cardio-pulmonary or...the list goes on.
At the same time, there's a recognized decrease in the value of such basic knowledge like setting stitches as the rate of reimbursement for these services indicates all too clearly. Some are lamenting this as a "degeneration" of health care when it is actually the natural and even necessary progression of the profession. Furthermore, certain procedures have been performed by nurses for years without anyone noticing or giving any official recognition. At the same time, procedures and activities once considered the domain of nurses, like taking temperatures, blood pressure readings or wound dressing, have devolved to med techs and certified nurse's assistants (CNAs).
What's this all mean, really?
There are two things going on here; two things which Prof. Nichols conflates: one, the flattening of information and, two, the democratization of knowledge.
"Flattening of information" means that anyone can look up and obtain information on any subject. In the illustration above, this is represented by the availability of Red Cross first aid classes and the first aid app on the cell phone. While it is subject to misuse and blunders, the mere fact of this information existing for every man, woman and child to peruse, exponentially increases human health and survivability.
"Knowledge" and "information" are two different concepts. "Knowledge" means not only having the information, but knowing how to use it, typically by experience and training. The "democratization of knowledge" means that more and more people receive some form of training or education in a multitude of subjects on a plethora of plains.
As this knowledge is pushed down and out to a greater number of people (democratization), it allows more professionals to become even more specialized, dare I say, "experts" in ever more defined fields. This focus and specialization invariably leads to the same conclusion: not the failure of the system or a threat to human survival, but an exponential increase in the longevity of human civilization.
In short, you may not want your mechanic to perform your brain surgery, but, if your car falls on the mechanic's leg and amputates it at the knee, your mechanic may appreciate your ability to tie a tourniquet, apply pressure, elevate his leg above his head and call 9-1-1.
For the professor on his lament for the death of expertise, the devaluation of his PhD and the continuing battle with the unwise, I feel your pain, but leave you with these parting words:
"...and I am called wise, for my hearers always imagine that I myself possess the wisdom which I find wanting in others: but the truth is, O men of Athens, that God only is wise; and in this oracle he means to say that the wisdom of men is little or nothing; he is not speaking of Socrates, he is only using my name as an illustration, as if he said, He, O men, is the wisest, who, like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing."- Plato's "Apologia", the Defense of Socrates
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