I had a chance to talk with an engineer today, a geologist with lots of experience in hydrology. One thing I noticed was that he could say quite a bit about the science of heavy metal pollution of lakes and streams that a non-scientist could readily understand. I walked away from our conversation with a renewed respect for this particular person, plus this: a belief that experts should assume that their work can be explained to interested citizens, and that they have an ethical obligation in a democracy to build the communication skills to do so.

We might establish a new standard that goes something like this: If you can't talk usefully to generalists about your expertise, you are not a proper expert. Experts who don't bother to build the skills should be shamed.