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Comment by InclinedPlane | Hacker News Reader

What does that have to do with anything? Do you think having an advanced degree makes you invulnerable to common biases or errors in reasoning? Do you think that having a STEM degree makes someone knowledgeable in issues of sociology? Ben Carson is a very accomplished neurosurgeon, and yet he has enormous gaping voids in his knowledge of other subjects.

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I didn't say he was infallible. He could be wrong. I'm talking about academic credibility—and he has it.

a STEM degree

A STEM PhD from Harvard. FTFY. And comparing James Damore to Ben Carson is, frankly, absurd. James Damore is not a politician, he's a scientist. He's not some yahoo in a comment thread, arguing with academics and professionals in their field from his parent's basement.

You're highlighting another big problem these days, slavish reverence for the 'best schools'.

I will also get a PhD from Harvard, and from a more selective program than this person. Yet I recognize the limits of my knowledge.

Studying microbes [1] does not give you the standing to discuss sociology. If your very well-qualified dentist wanted to do a code review of your last commit, you might think twice before accepting his advice - namely, you would ask what special knowledge he has, besides being a generally smart individual.

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Damore%20JA%5BAuth...

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