Comment by gowld
4 hours ago
Why is "Doctor of Philosophy" the correct certificate of "becoming expert in a topic"?
That's a radical departure from "PhD" being a certificate that someone is qualified to produce new research.
What you describe is more like a Masters Degree.
I think you have misunderstood.
PhD has nothing to do with expertness.
If you have a PhD, you have completed some kind of research training.
That's all there is. Says nothing about knowledge or whether or not you're a genius.
You cannot conclude anything else, and nobody claims that you can.
If someone has a PhD, they have some training in doing research.
Looks like @gowld is agreeing with you.
I'm not sure why an advanced degree is necessary for that at all, besides the pride of a vanity title. It's pretty much what Bill Nye does for science.