Expert

"An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less" - Nicolas Murray Butler (1862-1948) President of Columbia University

Great family day yesterday, with five little cousins united for the first time in the doting company of aunts, uncle and granny. I also broke the speed record for legal journey time to Gatwick from Hemel Hempstead. I did get a parking ticket in Knightsbridge - a residents parking space embedded in a sea of pay-at-meters on a Sunday! Perhaps there is justice after all...

How does one become an expert? By focusing attention and energy. By deepening knowledge in specific areas. Indeed, it is often necessary to narrow one's field of study in order to achieve this depth. So that is fairly clear. But does that limit us? Are experts limited in terms of the scope of their knowledge? Deep but narrow? I guess, by definition, one must say yes. However, I wonder if depth can lead to integration and hence scope. If I understand something very well, is it not possible for me to distil out some fundamental concepts which I can then apply to a vast array of other areas? Can the power of metaphor and commonality not be harnessed to leverage my expert knowledge?

My take on this is that the quotation is accurate - an expert knows more and more about less and less. But there are subsequent possibilities for dramatically expanding the scope of understanding, using one's expert knowledge. The key is the inclination to do this...