I'm done politely explaining why you can't 'just try' running a crane during family dinner arguments.

5 comments

5 Comments

Look at all the historical innovators who had no formal training yet changed the world. Plenty of skilled crane operators or surgeons today might have started with just curiosity and online resources. Overregulation and elitism in professions often gatekeep knowledge that could be more widely accessible. With modern simulators and detailed tutorials, the barrier to competent performance is lower than ever. Most DIY projects don't end in disaster, and we only hear about the failures, not the successes. Dismissing someone's ability to learn complex tasks just because they lack a certificate ignores how much human progress has come from amateur experimentation.

derek9989h ago

In 2021, OSHA reported over 5,000 crane-related accidents in the US alone! This post hits on a wider trend where complex, high-stakes professions are reduced to casual suggestions. You see it with people arguing that anyone can perform surgery after watching a video, or that driving a semi-truck is just like a big car. It reflects a dangerous cultural undervaluing of expertise and training. We're in an era where confidence often outweighs competence, and that mindset spills into everything from family dinners to public policy.

riverw177h ago

Used to joke about DIY surgery until realizing those OSHA stats represent real people, not hypotheticals.

karens128h ago

Attempted to help my friend install a new gas line after he binge-watched DIY videos, and it was a disaster waiting to happen. He kept saying how easy it looked online, ignoring the permits and codes involved, and I had to call a real professional before he blew up the neighborhood. It's exactly what you're talking about, this illusion that complex tasks are simple just because someone made a catchy tutorial. That overconfidence spills over into bigger things, like you said with cranes and surgery, where mistakes aren't just messy but deadly. We really need to respect the years of training that go into these professions instead of assuming a quick video can replace expertise.

fiona_west217h ago

Confidence isn't competence. When you mentioned overconfidence spilling into bigger things, that really sums it up. I've been on calls where DIY enthusiasm turned into emergency situations because people underestimated the risks. Those permits and codes exist based on hard lessons learned from past disasters. Watching a video doesn't teach you how to handle things when they go wrong, and that's where training matters. It's frustrating to see expertise dismissed until something bad happens.