I had a post about Experts in 2016, based on a cautionary opinion from Nicholas Nassim Taleb. This was pre-Covid, before we polarised about the very word "experts." I think he makes a good distinction that experts really are good at what they are good at, but become no better - or perhaps even worse than the interested amateur - when they start guessing. You can follow it up at the link, but the basic idea is that because they spend a lot of time speculating in their own field, they produce not only new insights, but also shared errors that need to be unlearned before they can improve.
The great Indian mystic Yogi Berra once said "In theory, there's no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is." There is also the story about the economist who saw something working in practice and ran hurriedly back to his study to see if it worked in theory.
I have linked to the post instead of reposting it because the comments are good.
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