Reply to Thread

Message:: [QUOTE="rick, post: 67980, member: 1235"]I think you misunderstood my point. You say that an engineer from MIT will probably earn more than an engineer from an average college - that's true.  Why?  Because people think that an engineer with a degree from MIT is smarter or more able to perform a job than an engineer from an average college... but do you think that's an absolute?  Probably, in fact 'without a doubt', no, it is not an absolute.  But it is an indicator.  You don't know which person is more qualified until you actually know the people applying for the job.  Since you can't know everybody, you accept indicators - which is why the guy from MIT will earn more than a guy from an average college, yes? Same thing with numismatic associations.  A lot of people collect coins, but not nearly all of those people join the ANA.  That's a good indicator that that person is a little more serious about their hobby.  Is it an absolute?  absolutely not.  A lot of people take their hobby very seriously and are not members... again, if you knew everybody, you would who is more or less serious about the hobby to gain more experience in it.  Since you can't know everybody, people add the letters to tell you a little something about themselves - which is a good indicator, and you take that for what you think it's worth. So, yes, I know they are not the same thing - but I hope I have described how I see these two issues as somewhat similar.[/QUOTE]