>As much as I have problems with Albert and Hahnel, I think they do a good job of explaining why we need to get rid of experts and specialization. Our lives become more meaningful when we aren't forced into narrow specializations for our lives. I'm experiencing that painfully right now, since I'm excluded from web jobs simply because I don't know this or that computer language.
Hmmm - I think I am going to have to post a Parecon summary. A&E do not get rid of specialization or experts.
No one can learn every skill. What they do is provide a strong incentive to learn a larger range of skills including both some sort of intellectual labor and scut work.
In terms of experts, expertise in fields like economics or enviromental planning would continue to exist. What would change is that experts would not be put in CHARGE of decision making. Experts are expert in some speicialized field. Everyone is an expert in what they want. So expertsw would be limited to providing information and advice. Decisions would be made democratically based in part on this information and advice... And it would be up to the people making dccisions (those most affected by those decisions) who would decide when to call in an expert, and what experts to call in.