I think you two are talking past each other for no good reason. The point of the nomination/curation program is to put more knowledge into our recommendations. PhDs are definitely one way a person might acquire useful knowledge but that's not universal to all PhDs or the only way. But the sentiment that having curators who know the field well is useful is almost certainly shared by both of you. What we're trying to get at is that a first time baker might think the chocolate chip cookie recipe on the side of a bag of Nestle Chocolate Chips is good, a chef will know of even better recipes. In that example, we want that chef to be the primary signal for recommendations.