Dialogue

Expertise - section 9

 

9

 

"Through war - political war, economic war, actual war," said Friend.

 

"Is there never voluntary transfer?"

 

"Not of significant amounts."

 

"What sort of people make voluntary transfers?"

 

"They are often called philanthropists."

 

"Aren't some of them at war with family and friends who feel entitled, who see their inheritance being squandered, as they see it?"

 

"You know, I never thought of it like that - but yes, they, too, are at war."

 

"Against parasites?"

 

"Yes, and they take great pride in giving to those who are not parasites, those who just could use a lucky break to get them through misfortune."

 

"Now, you said voluntary transfer of wealth does not occur in significant amounts. Don't some philanthropists have great amounts of wealth?"

 

"Yes, that's true - but they spread the wealth around, so its power is diffused."

 

"But aren't those the only choices - concentrated wealth, diffuse wealth? Why do you write off half of the equation?"

 

"The real choice is between concentrated wealth in what types of hands."

 

"You mean like a conservative with great wealth as opposed to a progressive with great wealth?"

 

"Yes."

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Nick Pappas, pappasnick.typepad.com 

Expertise - section 8

 

8

 

"Isn't that the definition of creativity, coming up with something new?" asked Friend.

 

"What about the rediscovery of something old? Can that be creative?"

 

"Yes, I suppose it can - if it displaces the current."

 

"So creativity is a war on the current?"

 

"That seems to be a fair definition."

 

"So conservatives are never, by definition, creative?"

 

"I don't know about that. Maybe they are creative within a set of conservative bounds."

 

"Maybe there are particular things the conservative leaders want changed, and they employ the creative to find ways to do so."

 

"Yes, perhaps the creative rediscover old things, which are legitimate by virtue of being old, and find ways for them to replace the current 'old'."

 

"So do the terms 'conservative', 'progressive', and so on just stand for various methods of justifying and then implementing change?"

 

"Not if there actually is, for the most part, no change in the regimes."

 

"What is the most basic change in any regime?"

 

"I would say it's the distribution of wealth."

 

"Really? You don't want to say it is the distribution of political power?"

 

"Political power and wealth are closely linked, if not the same."

 

"How does the distribution of wealth change?”

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Nick Pappas, pappasnick.typepad.com 

Expertise - section 7

 

7

 

"But communism really runs on central planning, right?" asked Director.

 

"Yes, that too."

 

"How about capitalism?"

 

"The idea is that there is little to no central planning."

 

"Socialism falls somewhere between?"

 

"I think it's fair to say that."

 

"And that's, roughly speaking, the gamut of first world regimes today?"

 

"I feel, for some reason, that we should count liberal democracy as a separate regime."

 

"Okay. Where is expertise most at home?"

 

"Any answer here is controversial. I'll say liberal democracy."

 

"Because capitalism alone is not enough to encourage expertise?"

 

"Yes, monopolies can stifle competition which stifles the creative use of expertise."

 

"Ah, there are different uses of expertise?"

 

"Certainly."

 

"What is the 'creative' use of expertise?"

 

"The development of new technology or new technique."

 

"Does creativity necessarily involve the creation of something new?"

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Nick Pappas, pappasnick.typepad.com 

Expertise - section 6

 

6

 

"None that I'm aware of," said Friend.

 

"Why do you think that is?"

 

"Modern science and its technology is how regimes compete today - the field on which they play, though very rarely in the sense of frolic."

 

"And it is how people within regimes compete with one another?"

 

"Yes. That's the thing. There was less intra-regime competition in ancient times."

 

"Less intra-regime commerce?"

 

"Yes, the commerce and the technology go hand in hand."

 

"Can you have much commerce without technology?"

 

"Not anywhere near as much - orders of magnitude of difference."

 

"Can you have much technology without commerce?"

 

"You know, maybe. I think it would have to be driven by the leaders of the regime."

 

"Would it be as effective without being wed to commerce?"

 

"No, I don't think so. There are regimes that have tried that, communist regimes."

 

"And the other regimes, the dominant regimes, are called capitalist, yes?"

 

"Yes."

 

"Capitalism runs on expertise, in practice. Communism runs on... what?"

 

"Expertise, too - in theory."

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Nick Pappas, pappasnick.typepad.com 

Expertise - section 5

 

5

 

"What is 'the political'," asked Director, "and why does it matter in a conversation about expertise?"

 

"The political is more than that half of the state / society distinction we're used to. The political is all of it - the whole regime, the entire way of life. Can we agree to that?"

 

"Yes. But what are we to make of a 'progressive' regime, a progressive way of life? Can it be a conservative progressive regime to the extent it maintains itself in its essential character?"

 

"You mean to say that a progressive regime that lasts a thousand years true to its character is conservative."

 

"Isn't it?"

 

"Yes, I'd say it is. If it conserves its fundamental principles, it's conservative."

 

"And all regimes attempt to be conservative."

 

"But not all individuals within a regime want for it to be conserved."

 

"Alright. Now how does this tie in to expertise?"

 

"I guess it has to do with what value the regime places on expertise in general."

 

"Don't all regimes need expertise?"

 

"All modern regimes do."

 

"What about ancient regimes?"

 

"They needed craftsmen, but not specialists whose knowledge derives from modern science."

 

"Are there any first-world regimes that do not depend on modern science today?"

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Nick Pappas, pappasnick.typepad.com 

Expertise - section 4

 

4

 

"I think," said Friend, "that is what will happen. They'll be brought into the fold, but not given control or the big money."

 

"These old field experts or leaders will be aristocrats of sorts, won't they?"

 

"Yes, but if this aristocracy is based on expertise there will be no inheritance by their children."

 

"Unless those children are passable as experts."

 

"Yes, I guess you're right. Their parents will send them to school to get degrees that say they are experts in the field and that will be that. The old fields are then controlled by a handful of families."

 

"Now, what if someone is exceptionally interested in cultivating his field, optimizing it? Would he overlook his son for an up and comer with greater expertise?"

 

"No, for the most part. He would do as you've suggested - pay the up and comer well and rely on his expertise while making his son some sort of figurehead. It would be rare for a top spot to open to the up and comer."

 

"So if there's no top level opportunity simply for their expertise, what do the ambitious young focus on?"

 

"Politics."

 

"So are we saying there are more politics in conservative cultures than in progressive cultures?"

 

"I don't know if it's more, Director."

 

"Perhaps politics is a constant in any culture, and it just finds different outlets."

 

"Perhaps. But what do we mean by politics? We're not just talking about 'office politics." I say we speak broadly, not of 'politics', but of 'the political'."

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Nick Pappas, pappasnick.typepad.com 

Expertise - section 3

 

3

 

"Yes," said Friend, "I suppose it does seem possible. So what does that say about play?"

 

"Play is the preserve of the powerful."

 

Friend cocked his head. "How so?"

 

"To play on any field, to really frolic, you have to have confidence in your power, in your expertise."

 

"That makes sense."

 

"But a problem arises for the experts, the leaders in the new fields. When their fields grow to a certain point of critical mass they come in contact with the old fields, both of necessity and of their own desire."

 

"Why do they want contact with the old fields?"

 

"For the same reason that the old fields, when they were new, came in contact with the then old fields - they envied what the old fields had."

 

"What did they have?"

 

"Prestige, access to networks of power - money."

 

"Ah, that takes us to the second reason why someone rushes in to gain expertise in a new field. Opportunity to make money. New fields promise gold, and there will always be people who rush in to get some."

 

"What happens if we move from a progressive to a conservative culture, where there are no new fields?"

 

"People will rush in to the old fields and try to make their money there."

 

"Do you think the conservatives leading these fields will do more than turn the up and coming experts into more or less well paid underlings?"

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Nick Pappas, pappasnick.typepad.com

Expertise - section 2

 

2

 

"Essentially?" asked Friend. "I don't think there is any difference, other than age."

 

"But what type of people tend to believe in old or new?"

 

"The satisfied tend to believe in the old, the unsatisfied in the new."

 

"But is that always the case? I know plenty of players on the old field who aren't satisfied, just as I know new field players who are satisfied with what they do."

 

"Then I don't know."

 

"Maybe we should get back to the question of expertise. Do people rush in to get old field knowledge?"

 

"I suppose they do - ambitious young students and junior associates."

 

"So rushing in isn't the difference between old and new?"

 

"Yes, but people playing on the new field tend to be more excited than people on the old field. In fact, I would say there is more 'play' on the new field than the old."

 

"Hmm. Play. Do you think that is always the case, that there is more play with the new? Can't people play with the old?"

 

"I suppose, but I think it is less common - much less common. The old is generally dying or dead."

 

"Because we live in a progressive era?"

 

"Are you suggesting that if we lived in a static, conservative era there would be more old field play?"

 

"It seems possible, doesn't it?"

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Nick Pappas, pappasnick.typepad.com 

Expertise - section 1

 

Expertise

 

Persons of the Dialogue

Director

Friend

 

 

1

 

"Who rushes in to gain expertise in a new field?" asked Director.

 

"I think there are different types. There are, for one, those who are attracted to the opportunity for the prestige that comes with the new expertise - the chance to be a leader," said Friend.

 

"Interesting. These people wouldn't have the opportunity to lead on the old field?"

 

"No. New field and old field leaders are different types."

 

"What is the expertise of an old field leader?"

 

"Politics."

 

"The new field leader typically lacks this?"

 

"Yes."

 

"How is it possible to lead without knowledge of politics?"

 

"Maybe it's a different type of politics."

 

"Different how?"

 

"Maybe old field leaders and new field leaders lead different types of people."

 

"Old people and new people?"

 

"Yes."

 

"Does an old people have old beliefs while a new people has new beliefs?"

 

"I think that's what it comes down to."

 

"So what's the difference between old and new beliefs?"

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Nick Pappas, pappasnick.typepad.com 

Anxiety - section 12 (final section)

 

12

 

"You love your friends, do you not?" asked Director.

 

"Of course."

 

"These enemy fish give poison to your friends, friends both of the actual and the potential variety. Now, if you love your friends as much as you love yourself, or even more so, can you see how avenging them is just as sweet, if not more so, than your 'personal' revenge?"

 

"Director, what you say makes sense. But I don't understand why you are saying it. Why are you trying to steer me away from taking revenge on my poisoner or poisoners?"

 

"Youth, you've yet to hook a fish. How are you going to go after a whale from your past? Shouldn't you at least get some practice first?"

 

"Agreed. And then maybe you can help me figure out what happened to me?"

 

"No," said Director gently but firmly. "That's yours to figure out or not." He let this sink in, then said: "And if you do figure it out, I wonder if you'll be so keen to go after some beast from the depths of your past."

 

"Why wouldn't I be?"

 

Director gave Youth a measuring stare. "You may come to believe that you yourself were, in part, or wholly, at fault."

 

"Was I?" asked Youth in an urgent whisper.

 

Director looked Youth long in the face, then said: "I don't know."

 

Youth swallowed hard. "I have a lot of untangling to do, careful untangling, don't I?"

 

"Perhaps. Or you could simply cut the knot and just not worry about the original poisoning, if there was one. What's done is done."

 

"Are you, of all people, saying it's better not to know?"

 

"I'm saying it might not be possible to know, and that you might have to learn to live with that. Or, you could make a choice to simply believe one way or the other. It's up to you. But who knows? Maybe you'll find your proof positive. My only point is that you have a real opportunity to take effective revenge against the enemy, here and now. This other revenge you're talking about might prove to be nothing more than a dream, a barren dream.

 

Youth nodded and rubbed his chin. He stared at the floor for a moment then looked up. "What if I did it to myself, gave myself all of this anxiety? What if I created an endless loop of low intensity fear stemming from the choices I've made? What if there was no poisoning?"

 

Director spoke slowly and evenly. "If you come to believe that you were at fault, you have to promise me that you will not attempt to take revenge on yourself."

 

Youth nodded solemnly. "I promise."

 

"You have to remember, in that case, that belief is not knowledge. You have to remember that knowledge of these things may very well not be possible. Do you understand?"

 

Youth nodded. "I understand." He gathered himself up and said: "I want to thank you, Director. You've given me a soothing remedy for my anxiety, something for which I am infinitely grateful. But a remedy is not the cure. I must find that, on my own."

 

"Maybe there is no cure," said Director quietly.

 

A thought flashed in Youth's mind, and he suddenly looked at Director in a new light. "Are you... anxious?"

 

"I get anxious."

 

"No, I mean are you ridden by anxiety?"

 

"I like to think I ride it more than it rides me."

 

Youth beamed a smile. "I'm not letting it ride me anymore!"

 

Director held out his hand. "Shake on it?"

 

They shook.

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Nick Pappas, pappasnick.typepad.com