Business Daily The death of expertise
Dec 13, 2019
Professor Tom Nichols and Michael Lewis discuss the death of expertise, the neglect of the US civil service, and the Dunning-Kruger Effect. They explore the challenges of having incompetent individuals in government roles and the importance of respecting expertise in various fields.
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Student Challenges Russia Expert
- Tom Nichols, an expert on national security, was prompted to write "The Death of Expertise" after an interaction with a student.
- The student disagreed with Nichols' assessment of Russia and claimed to understand the country better despite Nichols' extensive experience.
Comfortable Narcissism and Expertise
- The rise of comfortable narcissism, fueled by increasing affluence, makes people question experts.
- This, combined with a therapeutic approach to education and egalitarianism, diminishes respect for specialized knowledge.
Literacy and Overconfidence
- Universal literacy has inadvertently led to a sense of overconfidence in one's knowledge.
- People are just educated enough to believe they know a lot, which contributes to the disbelief in experts.