Why Entomology Matters | Ep. 155

So that institutional knowledge and wisdom, I mean, wisdom is something that you gain through life.

It doesn't mean that you're necessarily particularly intelligent, but you've taken note of stuff that's come across your path.

And then when that wisdom leaves the building, it's exactly what you're saying.

So now a new person is presented with a problem.

Where do they start? If it's not available in the literature and there isn't someone to ask, I can fully understand that that's quite difficult.

So your suggestion is to actually start bringing these young people in long in advance before somebody

retires.

You need time to convey that.

And also you need to share the knowledge.

While I officially retired at the end of 2024, I still do a lot of talks and lectures and training sessions for industry and for companies.

Because the reality is knowledge is something that only has value when you share it.

It has no value if it is locked away.

And if it goes to the grave, well, I'm not going to be using it then.

So you sometimes find people almost jealous, not wanting to share everything, which I don't really understand because...

The knowledge is there to share.

That is why we do research.

Research is in its essence, that's why you publish, because you want to advance research.

The body of knowledge, not just for yourself.

Yes.

That has no value.

Yes.

But something we also see is that people are scared to ask.

They're scared to ask those obvious questions.

What might this person think of me? I think that's more and more the case with youngsters these

days.