What insight have you gained from you profession/education that the layman doesn't understand?

Hah! Most laymen don't understand radios, either.

I remember buying a radio kit to build it yourself. The main idea is that the antenna picks up the signal and it oscillated between the capacitor and the coil. This magnifies the signal which is transferred to the speaker and we get sound.

I educated myself watching a Tesla documentary last night, it was electrifying.

And I was reading about Newton, I thought it had some weight.

But Carnot's was hot stuff..

As esteemed as any Hero?

I saw the reflection of my eye in the beer mug............Einstein.

The simplest example would be pi = circumference/diameter but dimensionally it is length/length so it is a pure number as the lengths cancel out. It was originally obtained empirically but it can be determined by calculus thus you have people in the Guiness' (?) Book of records who can cite innumerable number of digits after the decimal point.

My cousin's husband once described at some length how a symphony showed up on a vinyl album. It's still magical to me.

I'm afraid I just don't "get" even the simplified explanations of math/equations here.

I DID, however, recently understand Something (yay!) my husband said about repairing cars.

Apparently a "noise" in a car (truck) is very, very difficult to diagnose and repair. Mechanics use stethoscopes to try and locate the source of auto sounds. Even so, they often fail.

Even if a sound is very loud when a car is running, it may be really difficult to determine what it Causing that sound.

In his explanation, hubby used an apt analogy: It's like, he said, an old Victrola.

The Very Loud sound comes from the cone-shaped thing that magnifies the sound.

The "Actual" sound comes from the itty-bitty needle that is going around the record.

I got it!

I wonder if there are any deaf or semi deaf auto mechanics...

Well, I prefer the thoughts of a good writer / literary type. But periodically swimming with minnows in sharing their anecdotal barbs of 'wisdom' curiously adds a little chili pepper to the pot. Forgive me, I'm referring to my debut appearance at a recent date site forum as to the quality of embittered responses I received from giving a sane reply (must have hit a wrong nerve). Frankly, I think I was over-qualified. As my ego was a little bruised, I left this ditto of a retort behind: "Too many shrews on this site. A good man best not linger here for too long".

No, all joking aside, I base ALL primary 'wisdom' and knowledge on God's teachings. Nothing else really measures up as a universally productive, charitable theme, does it? As Abraham Lincoln laid it out: "With malice towards none, and charity for all". Of course, Jesus taught that to him! : "I have become all things to all men [in raising everyone’s concerns]" - I Cor 9:22

Now I don't mean to sound prejudicial, but 'UNIVERSAL WISDOM' among professionals is at most, I've found, hit and miss in opening fledgling minds.
But as hard-earned specialists, why not?...a pro brain surgeon, a pro mechanic, a pro wrestler or dancer, a pro spin doctor!

Acts 10:34 - "God is no respecter of persons"

He's especially referring to ambitious, self-reliant, self-made intellectuals of all professions who have little need for 'Higher' learning. That means mainly topping it with an even larger personal dossier (mental picture) involving vital social issues (like breaking the economy, for one). Still, God in His infinite Wisdom, encourages and instructs us in what broader ability is in us to communicate (reach out as a humanitarian) to ALL men and women of varying degrees of concern TO THEM (excluding folly). Hey, you said I could cut loose, so I cut loose...ha!

F.Y.I. - I am not free to frequent forums very often, so if I can't respond or elaborate right away, excuse me. Also, to the thread-starter, forgive me if I misinterpreted the term you referred to yourself as...that of distinguishing whether you are a layman (non-clergy) to a layman (nonprofessional). I suppose if I was an aspiring clergyman, this forum method would be a great way to amass more research or ideas in order to relate to the mindset of professionals within the congregation....Guy

Great to see this thread again - I'm rereading it.

Well, I won't reread a bit earlier, which doesn't apply to the thread.

Nothing wrong with a Lazarus thread, I suppose.

I've learned some boring, technical stuff about linguistics, I suppose, but more interesting is the process of second/foreign language acquisition. That is, how to learn another language most efficiently and accurately. Now if only I'd actually apply what I learned to myself...

As a Layman, my business is layin around.

The lesson I've learned is this here: The more layin, the more better!

The less you know the easier it is to be manipulated

The surest ways into the American pocketbook are to titillate and/or vacilitate sloth.

this could have been worded better

I gathered the opposite pretty much with a few exceptions that just prove the rule right...normally "professionals" are the epitaph of mediocrity !
They resume the general prevailing currents of thought in whatever areas they work on, they are the consensus. Those who work for money rather then knowledge as an end are not to be trusted in a corporate world. Generally speaking hard sciences are to an extent immune due to their "simplicity".

I have no idea what you just wrote but if you feel good about it, thats all that counts.