Conversation

There are some kinds of expertise that are defined more by the risks you take than by the skills with which you tackle those risks.
2
41
This often gets conflated with the theory/practice divide but isn't the same. Eg: a really good marksman who lacks the courage to go on the battlefield isn't a "theorist" exactly, but has the wrong balance of risk-taking and skill.
2
11
This is one reason I can't take "ethicist" seriously... it's one of those roles. Real ethicists take risks that can, in the worst case, get them killed, like Aaron Swartz. An academic ethicist who insists on their "expertise" from having studied ethics theories is... 🙄
2
33
Replying to
Subtweet inspired by the growing cottage industries of "ethicists" of various kinds. AI ethicists, design ethicists, blah blah blah. The diff between grifty posturing in service of ethics theaters, and actual risk-taking is pretty stark.
1
18