Library:The Death of Expertise
| The Death of Expertise | |
|---|---|
| Author | Tom Nichols |
| First published | 2017 |
| ISBN | 978-0-19-046941-2 |
| Role | Analysis |
| Domains | Culture, Religion & Society Science & Environment |
| Tactics | |
The Death of Expertise is a 2017 book by Tom Nichols.
Summary
Tom Nichols, a professor at the US Naval War College and a specialist in international affairs, published this book in 2017, expanding an essay that had circulated widely online. It argues that Americans have moved beyond healthy skepticism of experts into active hostility toward established knowledge, and that this threatens both good decisions and democracy itself.
The argument
Nichols's concern is not that people question experts; questioning is healthy. It is that many people now believe their own opinions are as valid as the conclusions of those who have spent careers studying a subject, and resent any suggestion otherwise. He calls this a campaign against established knowledge, and argues it mistakes equality of rights for equality of knowledge.
Why it happens
Nichols draws on research on cognitive bias. He discusses the Dunning-Kruger effect, the finding that people with little knowledge of a subject often overestimate their competence, and confirmation bias, the tendency to seek information that supports what we already believe. These tendencies are ordinary, but modern conditions amplify them.
The contributing forces
The book identifies several forces. Higher education, Nichols argues, increasingly treats students as customers whose opinions must be validated rather than challenged. The internet gives everyone access to information but not the ability to evaluate it, so searching becomes confused with knowing. Journalism, under commercial pressure, often presents expert consensus and fringe views as equal sides.
Experts' own failures
Nichols does not let experts off lightly. He acknowledges that experts make mistakes, sometimes seriously, and that their failures, along with arrogance and overreach, have damaged public trust. His argument is that the remedy for expert error is better expertise and accountability, not rejection of expertise altogether.
Democracy
The book's final argument concerns self-government. Democracy, Nichols argues, depends on a working relationship between citizens and experts, in which citizens make value choices while relying on experts for facts. When that relationship breaks down, citizens become vulnerable to demagogues who tell them what they want to hear.
Relevance to Bullshitopedia
The book explains part of the environment in which misinformation spreads. Its balance, criticizing both anti-expert hostility and expert failure, is a useful model for the site's own approach.