The Final Hurdle
In a sector dominated by specialisation and expertise, is there any room left for learning?
It’s a bit of an unwritten rule really. Scientists, professors, academics, or faculty members are generally not “allowed” to show weakness. While there has been (slow) progress towards broader acceptance of physical, emotional, and mental vulnerabilities in the workplace, there is one hurdle in Higher Education that is not going away any time soon.
None of us are allowed to be stupid.
Academia is a competitive arena, and the price of admission is a minimum of multiple degrees not to mention decades of training. How then, can any of us be objectively obtuse? In order to survive we need to become local, national, and international leaders in our fields, and you simply don’t receive this type of esteem by having obvious gaps in your basic understanding of the world. Perception is reality, and professional reputations in our arena are always contingent on our last turn at bat. One false statement in the wrong setting and your role as an expert will fade away like the mirage it perhaps always was. Maybe that’s how it should be and everything is exactly in order? How else will we flush the impostors out of a system defined by intellectual prowess?
We launched a podcast! Episode 2 of the Crossover Connections Podcast talks about the hidden costs of innovation - from telescopes to microscopes. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or watch the video version on YouTube.
This is a negative feedback loop where we only become successful in science by talking about our work to as many people as possible, yet out of fear of public humiliation we’re discouraged from talking about science until we know everything there is to know. This simply isn’t how scientific knowledge, or knowledge of any variety, is created. Scientific discovery is messy, iterative, and relies upon uncertainty to fuel the next round of investigation. We are short-changing ourselves if we don’t try to challenge our own assumptions about the work, and we can’t do that by only talking to other scientists in our immediate sphere. We need to get over that fear of being stupid, and not be afraid of being wrong.
(The next section will sound like a backhanded compliment, like I’m having a dig - but trust me when I tell you that it’s not. Genuinely.)
You know who’s not scared of looking stupid in a public arena? Economists. With the threat of looming recessions and rising interest rates, economists have been front and centre in news broadcasts and TV segments all across the world in recent months. All the coverage I’ve seen involving prognostications about the timing of stock market rises and crashes, global economic pressures, and what everyone should invest our life savings into, are made by cool, calm, and collected economists ready for prime-time. I’m not saying that this confidence and swagger is unearned, but surely a less than sterling track record in prediction accuracy would warrant some more caution?
Again this is not at all a dig! In fact it has informed my reflective approach in seeing what others are doing in their approach towards communication. Scientists can learn a lot from economists in our willingness to engage with thorny subject matter in a public forum. Even when there’s a lot to lose when we get things wrong.
This reflection is the exact design philosophy that helped launch the Crossover Connections Podcast. We go out of our way to find the latest news articles in science and technology that are outside of our wheelhouse, and use them as inspiration to expand our working knowledge base while putting in the reps for science communication. Even though we’re only 2 episodes in so far, I’ve already learnt so much about Artificial Intelligence, flight notification systems, space junk, and near infra-red telescopes(!). None of these were close to being on my radar this time last year, and now I’ve had to learn about them enough to talk extemporaneously about their impact on my life. It’s perfectly OK for me to be stupid in this setting, and it’s quite exciting to have an excuse to regularly deep-dive into brand new areas outside of my field. I’m hoping to share this experience with my students ahead of the upcoming semester to model the practice of life-long learning.
Just like rest of the content I make online, the iterative learning process leading up to the production of any article, podcast, or video means that I am ultimately the biggest beneficiary. Hopefully you can find some value in it for you as well.
Talk soon,
Jack.
