The Seven Stages of Expertise in Software Engineering (1998)

At what stage do you question if the bears need to be hunted?

I know the comparison is meant as tongue-and-cheek, but if these stages are really universal, then the ability to question and even reject a field of expertise or approach must be included.

Of course, thinking that through also applies to meta-level expertise, like being able to recognize that a given direction isn't the right path to go.

But since we're talking bear hunting, we can leave it at the concrete level. When do whalers agree it's time to stop whaling? Buffalo hunters? CFC producers? Designers of new nuclear weapons?