a PHD is a monkey trained to reason about a unknown.
totally agree that heterogeneous teams are vastly superior in avoiding blind spots.
totally agree that heterogeneous teams are vastly superior in avoiding blind spots.
Ph.D.s are trained in two things. "Reasoning about an unknown" is one of them. But the particular niche knowledge they acquired while training this is the other. That niche can save my life if the niche matches the thing to be implanted into my brain. No matter how many youtube-educated wannabe-experts take issue with formal education.
(I have many issues with the academic system, but this kind of critisism is ridiculous.)
It might just be me, but I actually feel more comfortable with the former.
If you ONLY hire people from specific backgrounds, you get blind spots. That's dangerous. Excluding anyone without a PhD should not be expected to improve safety.
The distinction you make does not exist in that sense. The only actual difference is that the "extra" 3 Ph.D. graduates have had a certification for a somewhat structured education in some research field, while the youtoube fans don't. So, everything else equal, that group has an advantage.