What careers go up against "obviously" wrong conventional wisdom that change people's lives fairly dramatically one person at a time?
June 1, 2010 10:18 PM Subscribe
What careers go up against "obviously" wrong conventional wisdom that change people's lives fairly dramatically one person at a time?
I've been thinking about becoming a doctor who treats diabetes patients by having them go on low-carb diets. This possible career path appeals to me because:
1) It seems an "obviously" correct thing to do that at the same time goes against conventional wisdom. (The American Diabetic Association recommends eating lots of carbs then using relatively large amounts of insulin to compensate for the carbs.) I like the idea of being a relatively lone intellectual rebel working against the teachings of the big bad institution.
2) It's something that effects significant changes on a person by person basis.
Can you think of other careers that have the above 2 characteristics?
P.S. Please don't get into a discussion of whether my views on low-carb diets for diabetes patients is "correct" or not. I'm just trying to use it as a possible example of a career with the aforementioned characteristics.
I've been thinking about becoming a doctor who treats diabetes patients by having them go on low-carb diets. This possible career path appeals to me because:
1) It seems an "obviously" correct thing to do that at the same time goes against conventional wisdom. (The American Diabetic Association recommends eating lots of carbs then using relatively large amounts of insulin to compensate for the carbs.) I like the idea of being a relatively lone intellectual rebel working against the teachings of the big bad institution.
2) It's something that effects significant changes on a person by person basis.
Can you think of other careers that have the above 2 characteristics?
P.S. Please don't get into a discussion of whether my views on low-carb diets for diabetes patients is "correct" or not. I'm just trying to use it as a possible example of a career with the aforementioned characteristics.
Many theories of education go against conventional wisdom. For example, charter schools.
posted by acidic at 10:49 PM on June 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by acidic at 10:49 PM on June 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
If you went into a scientific field where you challenged the "obviously" wrong conventional wisdom of your peers, despite sound scientific evidence, the only life that would dramatically change would be yours, since you would likely be out of a job.
posted by Beardsley Klamm at 11:04 PM on June 1, 2010 [4 favorites]
posted by Beardsley Klamm at 11:04 PM on June 1, 2010 [4 favorites]
"Bringing healthcare directly to the homeless, as Dr. Jim Withers describes in this Gel Health talk, is difficult but rewarding. As a founder of the global street medicine movement, and the subject of the documentary "One Bridge to the Next," Dr. Withers has accomplished a great deal - both in his home city of Pittsburgh with Operation Safety Net and throughout the world in dozens of cities now maintaining street medicine practices."
posted by Jack Karaoke at 11:07 PM on June 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Jack Karaoke at 11:07 PM on June 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
What's your goal here? Rule # 2 is great and altruistic but it Rule # 1 reads like you have some kind of ego issue to satisfy, hence the snarky comments you're getting. The "lone intellectual" archetype is seductive because it puts you at the top, smarter than everyone else.
Unfortunately, contrarian brilliance is not available to laymen, only to experienced practitioners who understand the rules of their field well enough to recognize when they can be broken. Anyone can rail against the system but how do you know you're railing in the right direction? You need the expertise, and you need to be willing to let the evidence guide you, and if that shows the conventional wisdom is doing okay, you need to accept that.
To follow your example, a doctor who prescribes a treatment plan that is not supported by evidence, e.g. controlled trials, may be guilty of malpractice. If your miracle cure doesn't work -- and why should it? How many thousands of people are doing diabetes research right now, do you really think an outsider can just show up and outsmart them all? -- then you could be sued and rightfully so.
Jack Karaoke may be onto something though, and made me think of a role model for you: David Eby, a lawyer here in Vancouver, head of the Pivot Legal Aid Society and the BC Civil Liberties Association. Most lawyers work for corporations but he works for the poor and the marginalized and is really an amazing and desperately needed voice for so many people.
posted by PercussivePaul at 11:11 PM on June 1, 2010 [9 favorites]
Unfortunately, contrarian brilliance is not available to laymen, only to experienced practitioners who understand the rules of their field well enough to recognize when they can be broken. Anyone can rail against the system but how do you know you're railing in the right direction? You need the expertise, and you need to be willing to let the evidence guide you, and if that shows the conventional wisdom is doing okay, you need to accept that.
To follow your example, a doctor who prescribes a treatment plan that is not supported by evidence, e.g. controlled trials, may be guilty of malpractice. If your miracle cure doesn't work -- and why should it? How many thousands of people are doing diabetes research right now, do you really think an outsider can just show up and outsmart them all? -- then you could be sued and rightfully so.
Jack Karaoke may be onto something though, and made me think of a role model for you: David Eby, a lawyer here in Vancouver, head of the Pivot Legal Aid Society and the BC Civil Liberties Association. Most lawyers work for corporations but he works for the poor and the marginalized and is really an amazing and desperately needed voice for so many people.
posted by PercussivePaul at 11:11 PM on June 1, 2010 [9 favorites]
This is not going so well, acidic ad Jack Karaoke excepted.
I can think of a number of things that used to go against CW (antibiotics for ulcers for example), but they eventually made changes for many people at a time.
Likewise, I can think of people who have made a difference for people one at a time, but it would be hard to make a career of that. Psychotherapist? Social worker? Volunteer at a jail?
Father Greg Boyle handled gang members pretty differently than the standard and has ade a huge difference in the lives of the people he's touched.
posted by SLC Mom at 11:17 PM on June 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
I can think of a number of things that used to go against CW (antibiotics for ulcers for example), but they eventually made changes for many people at a time.
Likewise, I can think of people who have made a difference for people one at a time, but it would be hard to make a career of that. Psychotherapist? Social worker? Volunteer at a jail?
Father Greg Boyle handled gang members pretty differently than the standard and has ade a huge difference in the lives of the people he's touched.
posted by SLC Mom at 11:17 PM on June 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
I'm all for unconventional wisdom, but I think your going about this backwards. You don't become a true rebel by saying, "Here's an unpopular idea. I'll support that." Trouble is that sometimes the accepted ways are right, sometimes they were once radical too, so deciding that you will be anti-whatever will usually backfire.
The real way to be a rebel, an honest innovator, is to find a field that you are passionate about, learn everything there is to know while constantly questioning all of the assumptions made in the field and constantly looking for new answers.
Galileo didn't say, "Eww, eww, this Copurnicus guy's got some ideas that will stir up some trouble." Astronomy wasn't really his field or his first passion, but he new and understood it better than almost anyone at that time, and he made a reasoned study and tested that hypothesis (today we call this science.). It was the truth that was the goal, not simply upsetting the status quo. Linus Pauling's field wasn't oncology either, but he understood chemical reactions better than anyone, and thought that gave him insight into area. He was wrong about vitamin C and cancer, but he was honestly wrong, not just trying to show up those doctors. And his honesty is worthy of respect.
Every field out there has a quack theory or two, some of the ones have honest and commented proponents with decent backgrounds in areas related to those theories, but the people who grab those ideas only because they go against the established wisdom, only hurt the hunt for new answers.
Yeah, your example is good. Diabetes and nutrition, and all of medicine, can use more people looking for new answers. But I feel pretty sure you are going to be a better advocate for the new answers if you understand the old ones, and the reasoning behind the old ones first.
posted by Some1 at 11:26 PM on June 1, 2010 [6 favorites]
The real way to be a rebel, an honest innovator, is to find a field that you are passionate about, learn everything there is to know while constantly questioning all of the assumptions made in the field and constantly looking for new answers.
Galileo didn't say, "Eww, eww, this Copurnicus guy's got some ideas that will stir up some trouble." Astronomy wasn't really his field or his first passion, but he new and understood it better than almost anyone at that time, and he made a reasoned study and tested that hypothesis (today we call this science.). It was the truth that was the goal, not simply upsetting the status quo. Linus Pauling's field wasn't oncology either, but he understood chemical reactions better than anyone, and thought that gave him insight into area. He was wrong about vitamin C and cancer, but he was honestly wrong, not just trying to show up those doctors. And his honesty is worthy of respect.
Every field out there has a quack theory or two, some of the ones have honest and commented proponents with decent backgrounds in areas related to those theories, but the people who grab those ideas only because they go against the established wisdom, only hurt the hunt for new answers.
Yeah, your example is good. Diabetes and nutrition, and all of medicine, can use more people looking for new answers. But I feel pretty sure you are going to be a better advocate for the new answers if you understand the old ones, and the reasoning behind the old ones first.
posted by Some1 at 11:26 PM on June 1, 2010 [6 favorites]
I"m with acidic in that the obvious answer would be public education. It is widely acknowledged to be a cesspool, but somehow...one could probably call it conventional wisdom that "public school is the best option for your kid."
On a person-by-person basis...volunteer as a tutor? Support school choice for parents in your area? Run for school board and be able to help oversee curriculum? Big Brothers/Big Sisters? I'm not sure these things would count as a "career" but they would help on a person-by-person basis. Being a teacher who actually gives a shit whether the students develop their intellects would help even more.
posted by deep thought sunstar at 11:30 PM on June 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
On a person-by-person basis...volunteer as a tutor? Support school choice for parents in your area? Run for school board and be able to help oversee curriculum? Big Brothers/Big Sisters? I'm not sure these things would count as a "career" but they would help on a person-by-person basis. Being a teacher who actually gives a shit whether the students develop their intellects would help even more.
posted by deep thought sunstar at 11:30 PM on June 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
I said education before but now that I think about it, the most "obviously" wrong conventional wisdom is the notion that money will buy happiness. Thus you could stop all profit-seeking behavior and devote your life to helping the needy.
posted by acidic at 11:38 PM on June 1, 2010
posted by acidic at 11:38 PM on June 1, 2010
some form of art would give you this too - I've ended up in a very similar role as a performance artist doing very different things to other people in my scene (burlesque), both life-changing and attracting derision.
posted by divabat at 11:45 PM on June 1, 2010
posted by divabat at 11:45 PM on June 1, 2010
Look for things that have had new and valid scientific, medical, environmental, social breakthroughs and promote those against the old guard that is stuck in place because it benefits them.
Green technology, prison reform, medical mind/body connections...
posted by Vaike at 11:57 PM on June 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
Green technology, prison reform, medical mind/body connections...
posted by Vaike at 11:57 PM on June 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
What Some1 said.
With 2 additions
1) You look for a field that you can be passionate about, and that by definition, involves directly changing people's lives. Doctors, nurses, therapists (all the health-related 'helping' professions), teachers (at all levels and in the broadest sense of the word), lawyers, these are all good examples. But there are also things like Engineers without Frontiers (helping small villages build small dams so that power can be generated locally, going against the conventional World Bank development mindset of building large dams to produce lots of energy "efficiently"), there are architects working on environmentally friendly, low cost housing. Etc.
2) Look at the really intractable problems in the field you pick. That's generally where conventional wisdom is not working so well. Learn all you can about the problem, and try your damnedest to solve it. Chances are you will end up using method that is different from conventional wisdom.
posted by bardophile at 12:01 AM on June 2, 2010
With 2 additions
1) You look for a field that you can be passionate about, and that by definition, involves directly changing people's lives. Doctors, nurses, therapists (all the health-related 'helping' professions), teachers (at all levels and in the broadest sense of the word), lawyers, these are all good examples. But there are also things like Engineers without Frontiers (helping small villages build small dams so that power can be generated locally, going against the conventional World Bank development mindset of building large dams to produce lots of energy "efficiently"), there are architects working on environmentally friendly, low cost housing. Etc.
2) Look at the really intractable problems in the field you pick. That's generally where conventional wisdom is not working so well. Learn all you can about the problem, and try your damnedest to solve it. Chances are you will end up using method that is different from conventional wisdom.
posted by bardophile at 12:01 AM on June 2, 2010
"Learn the rules so as to bend/break them" has a lot of Wisdom Merit®, but there is a peculiar value in approaching systems with am antagonistic angle. It's more of a gamble for sure, but that's part of the contrarian bargain.
I think one reason people may have a hard time suggesting things for you is because the word career is intertwined with the idea of progress & CW (CW manifests as remuneration in Acidic's comment). Would people who found purpose in these unconventional roles call what they do a career? I'm thinkin' they might be more likely to use words like "revelation", "calling", "mission", etc..
In an attempt to salvage my contribution to the derailment of this thread, I offer up Really Really Free Markets as an example of the unconventional, or at least a place to seek it out. :)
posted by Jack Karaoke at 12:04 AM on June 2, 2010
I think one reason people may have a hard time suggesting things for you is because the word career is intertwined with the idea of progress & CW (CW manifests as remuneration in Acidic's comment). Would people who found purpose in these unconventional roles call what they do a career? I'm thinkin' they might be more likely to use words like "revelation", "calling", "mission", etc..
In an attempt to salvage my contribution to the derailment of this thread, I offer up Really Really Free Markets as an example of the unconventional, or at least a place to seek it out. :)
posted by Jack Karaoke at 12:04 AM on June 2, 2010
Be a rogue guidance counselor who convinces certain types of kids to stay the hell out of university but avoid the assembly line jobs and instead to do what they really want to do in life regardless of whether it looks good on typical financial spreadsheets. Help them get loans for career training, match them up with mentors, find them apprenticeships and part-time jobs. Jump on them before they graduate and get whisked away by events. Advertise yourself on posters inviting kids to come and talk to you at some public place (to keep yourself out of trouble). Cooperate with their parents when and where you should, but start with the kids and what the kids really want. Make a generation of happy grocers and dog trainers and gardeners and carpenters and piano teachers and plumbers so on. Smart vocational guidance.
posted by pracowity at 12:41 AM on June 2, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by pracowity at 12:41 AM on June 2, 2010 [2 favorites]
but now that I think about it, the most "obviously" wrong conventional wisdom is the notion that money will buy happiness.
Tell that to a person that doesn't have any. Frankly, if we're getting this deep into conventional wisdom, this right here is the utmost fallacy. You go make $7.25/hr and raise your kids. Get them braces. Send them to college. OH WAIT...... I guess they'll be pretty happy without an education.
Frankly, I think "money doesn't buy happiness" is a fantastic example of CW that has become outmoded and dangerous. You want to grow up without the money to get your parents to stop fighting at night? You want to grow up without your parents deciding between taking you to the doctor and buying food? You want to grow up knowing that you're just as smart, if not smarter, than your wealthy classmates, but will have no chance to go to school and prove it?
But that's right....money doesn't buy happiness. If it doesn't, then I'd damn well like to know what it does buy?
Unfortunately, money absolutely does buy happiness. It's all in how you spend it.
posted by deep thought sunstar at 12:54 AM on June 2, 2010 [7 favorites]
Tell that to a person that doesn't have any. Frankly, if we're getting this deep into conventional wisdom, this right here is the utmost fallacy. You go make $7.25/hr and raise your kids. Get them braces. Send them to college. OH WAIT...... I guess they'll be pretty happy without an education.
Frankly, I think "money doesn't buy happiness" is a fantastic example of CW that has become outmoded and dangerous. You want to grow up without the money to get your parents to stop fighting at night? You want to grow up without your parents deciding between taking you to the doctor and buying food? You want to grow up knowing that you're just as smart, if not smarter, than your wealthy classmates, but will have no chance to go to school and prove it?
But that's right....money doesn't buy happiness. If it doesn't, then I'd damn well like to know what it does buy?
Unfortunately, money absolutely does buy happiness. It's all in how you spend it.
posted by deep thought sunstar at 12:54 AM on June 2, 2010 [7 favorites]
I think it's fair to say that, for most people, it is harder to do things things that will make you happy, if you don't have money. The fact of having money doesn't automatically mean that you have the knowledge or ability to pursue the things that will make you happy, however.
posted by bardophile at 2:32 AM on June 2, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by bardophile at 2:32 AM on June 2, 2010 [1 favorite]
Well, Decca Records rejected the Beatles with the statement that "guitar groups are on the way out." Given the cyclical nature of music or fashion trends someone is always ahead, in the middle of or behind the curve at any point.
Technology or engineering is another area - as an engineer or designer you can completely change the status quo. Nobody thought netbooks were a good idea. Bill Gates famously said that "640KB should be sufficient for any program." The telephone was dismissed by many on its invention because of the idea that people wanted to be able to see who they talked to.
Politics - supporting anti-Apartheid movements or civil rights weren't always default positions for Western politicians. The same is true of gay rights or green energy. "Conventional wisdom" is a poor guide for what we could or should do in a generation's time.
posted by MuffinMan at 5:27 AM on June 2, 2010
Technology or engineering is another area - as an engineer or designer you can completely change the status quo. Nobody thought netbooks were a good idea. Bill Gates famously said that "640KB should be sufficient for any program." The telephone was dismissed by many on its invention because of the idea that people wanted to be able to see who they talked to.
Politics - supporting anti-Apartheid movements or civil rights weren't always default positions for Western politicians. The same is true of gay rights or green energy. "Conventional wisdom" is a poor guide for what we could or should do in a generation's time.
posted by MuffinMan at 5:27 AM on June 2, 2010
Well, I agree with you about the low-carb for diabetics thing. However, if that is what you specifically want to do, you might want to consider an R.D. as opposed to an M.D.
posted by smalls at 5:27 AM on June 2, 2010
posted by smalls at 5:27 AM on June 2, 2010
Not to brag, but I think my recent venture might fufill your criteria.
posted by MrMoonPie at 5:43 AM on June 2, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by MrMoonPie at 5:43 AM on June 2, 2010 [3 favorites]
Be a rogue guidance counselor who convinces certain types of kids to stay the hell out of university but avoid the assembly line jobs and instead to do what they really want to do in life regardless of whether it looks good on typical financial spreadsheets
That could make you feel guilty after a while - money doesn't buy happiness, but the lack of it usually comes with unhappiness.
Maybe just limit yourself to the combinations of kids and jobs for whom it does look good on financial spreadsheets? You'll still be able to help out the future plumbers and carpenters, and you can round that out with the electricians, the mechanics, the police officers (but be responsible with who you steer towards that one...), the truck drivers, the line workers...
Even then I'd be careful whom you pigeonhole as "certain types of kids". Someone who's not academically successful in a public high school may be happier with vocational training than with more abstract symbol manipulation in college, or they may just be bored silly and in need of a real challenge.
posted by roystgnr at 7:06 AM on June 2, 2010
That could make you feel guilty after a while - money doesn't buy happiness, but the lack of it usually comes with unhappiness.
Maybe just limit yourself to the combinations of kids and jobs for whom it does look good on financial spreadsheets? You'll still be able to help out the future plumbers and carpenters, and you can round that out with the electricians, the mechanics, the police officers (but be responsible with who you steer towards that one...), the truck drivers, the line workers...
Even then I'd be careful whom you pigeonhole as "certain types of kids". Someone who's not academically successful in a public high school may be happier with vocational training than with more abstract symbol manipulation in college, or they may just be bored silly and in need of a real challenge.
posted by roystgnr at 7:06 AM on June 2, 2010
You could look into giving houses to the homeless.
posted by General Tonic at 7:16 AM on June 2, 2010
posted by General Tonic at 7:16 AM on June 2, 2010
Dr. Gabor Mate specializes in addiction, but takes a "harm-reduction" approach over an abstinence approach. His book about this, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, is a very interesting contrarian look at what addiction is and how to respond to it.
posted by not that girl at 8:42 AM on June 2, 2010
posted by not that girl at 8:42 AM on June 2, 2010
I'm a librarian who is aggressively into copyright reform. There are actually a lot of librarians out there like me, but it's definitely an anti-status quo perspective. There is a lot of rules following in librarianship [for many good reasons, I am not knocking it at all] and one of the rules that gets followed is copyright stuff. This gets tricky in the US because the laws are [to my mind] significantly overreaching and inhibit the sort of sharing that we as librarians would like to be able to do more of. And the laws are only getting more like this. And they're poorly tested and so many people in my profession are, shall we say timid, about pushing the envelope on things like Fair Use and some of the stupid restrictions we have to put up with as far as our public performance license when we show movies at the library [the license restricts us from advertising the movie BY NAME in the local paper, this is idiotic].
So, this timidity and strict interpretation of the laws means we wind up buying products from vendors that are difficult to use BECAUSE of the copyright anti-infringement technology [DRM] that is built into them. This sucks for librarians and sucks for patrons. They learn that technology is hard and we have to explain to them that it's actually hard because of legislation that is out to protect major media companies, not because we're trying to most effectively share content with them. There are ways of approaching this that I think are more honest, but they are not ones that I think are industry standard including showing patrons how to get content in other ways besides or DRM-ed audiobooks [I work in a place with a lot of tech novice patrons] such as burning them to their home computer or a CD. I engage in backroom interlibrary loan by giving people PDFs of articles that they want, even if they're not my library patrons, stuff that I have access to through my personal library affiliations.
My personal feeling is that once the MPAA decides to take a public library to court because they dared to put the name of a Disney film into the paper when they were showing it, then it's on. The ACLU would take our case. Laws or licensing terms might be changed. And I don't think they will be otherwise. I'd like to hurry that along, we've accepted too many restrictions on what I think of as legitimate content sharing [I don't go all the way over to saying "hey here's bit torrent" but I also won't wrinkle my nose and say "hey that's illegal" either] and I think that's antithetical to our work as librarians.
posted by jessamyn at 9:17 AM on June 2, 2010 [5 favorites]
So, this timidity and strict interpretation of the laws means we wind up buying products from vendors that are difficult to use BECAUSE of the copyright anti-infringement technology [DRM] that is built into them. This sucks for librarians and sucks for patrons. They learn that technology is hard and we have to explain to them that it's actually hard because of legislation that is out to protect major media companies, not because we're trying to most effectively share content with them. There are ways of approaching this that I think are more honest, but they are not ones that I think are industry standard including showing patrons how to get content in other ways besides or DRM-ed audiobooks [I work in a place with a lot of tech novice patrons] such as burning them to their home computer or a CD. I engage in backroom interlibrary loan by giving people PDFs of articles that they want, even if they're not my library patrons, stuff that I have access to through my personal library affiliations.
My personal feeling is that once the MPAA decides to take a public library to court because they dared to put the name of a Disney film into the paper when they were showing it, then it's on. The ACLU would take our case. Laws or licensing terms might be changed. And I don't think they will be otherwise. I'd like to hurry that along, we've accepted too many restrictions on what I think of as legitimate content sharing [I don't go all the way over to saying "hey here's bit torrent" but I also won't wrinkle my nose and say "hey that's illegal" either] and I think that's antithetical to our work as librarians.
posted by jessamyn at 9:17 AM on June 2, 2010 [5 favorites]
If you went into a scientific field where you challenged the "obviously" wrong conventional wisdom of your peers, despite sound scientific evidence, the only life that would dramatically change would be yours, since you would likely be out of a job.
Conventional wisdom doesn't really play into science (although the objective study of conventional wisdom/folk psychology is a pretty cool topic).
Science is all about subverting the dominant paradigm. Granted, if you just "toss a hand grenade into the room" and present data that contradicts what is currently accepted without backing it up with replication and a theoretical explanation, you can expect not to make any friends.
However, science moves forward through a process of constant revision of what constitutes 'conventional scientific wisdom.'
posted by solipsophistocracy at 1:06 PM on June 2, 2010
Conventional wisdom doesn't really play into science (although the objective study of conventional wisdom/folk psychology is a pretty cool topic).
Science is all about subverting the dominant paradigm. Granted, if you just "toss a hand grenade into the room" and present data that contradicts what is currently accepted without backing it up with replication and a theoretical explanation, you can expect not to make any friends.
However, science moves forward through a process of constant revision of what constitutes 'conventional scientific wisdom.'
posted by solipsophistocracy at 1:06 PM on June 2, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by flabdablet at 10:48 PM on June 1, 2010 [1 favorite]