Expert talk
Competently speaking
I enjoy listening to experts talk about their work. I sometimes watch YouTube videos of experts answering internet questions - surgeons, biologists, toxicologists, archaeologists, geologists, historians, etc. These are academic experts, the kind of expert I have liked habitually for a long time. I have a very high regard for formal schooling and academic credentials. I enjoyed school and I became a teacher, after all. But even so, I am quite interested in hearing people from any profession or line of work answering questions and describing what they do for a living - truck drivers, mechanics, tattoo artists, musicians, fishing boat captains, farmers, carpenters, construction workers, police detectives, actors, barbers, etc. My feelings on the matter of expertise have evolved over time, as I've discovered that I appreciate competence more than a person's pedigree.
If a person has to boast about their expertise, that suggests to me that they suffer a scarcity of it rather than an abundance.
People may be imbeciles in every other arena, but in the matter of their livelihood everyone becomes knowledgeable through application and experience. Everyone becomes an expert in something, whatever their work is, and whatever their background and formal education are. So, while I respect academic credentials as a step on the way to competence, I guess I respect sheer competence even more, no matter how it’s achieved. Especially quiet competence. I mean, if a person has to boast about their expertise (or their power, their intelligence, or their wealth like a certain former U.S. President has to do every waking hour), that suggests to me that they actually suffer a scarcity of it rather than an abundance, and maybe they feel inferior about it.