[dannyw]

Would you rather have a team of 10 PhDs and 3 "self taught hackers" or 13 PhDs?

It might just be me, but I actually feel more comfortable with the former.

If you ONLY hire people from specific backgrounds, you get blind spots. That's dangerous. Excluding anyone without a PhD should not be expected to improve safety.

[ganafagol]

That makes it sound like Ph.D. graduates are a homogenuous bunch. That's nonsense. Somebody with a Ph.D. degree is just that -- a person with a certain degree certifying a certain competence. Apart from that, it does not say anything. Not what background the person has, how they think, what they like. It's part of a Ph.D. degree to aquire knowledge and skills alone. "Self-taught" if you will.

The distinction you make does not exist in that sense. The only actual difference is that the "extra" 3 Ph.D. graduates have had a certification for a somewhat structured education in some research field, while the youtoube fans don't. So, everything else equal, that group has an advantage.