The Death of Expertise - Tom Nichols

Sub-title: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters.

This looked interesting at the time, with discussion of anti-intellectualism buzzing around.  The author argues that while we have broader access to knowledge than any other time in history, it has resulted in declaring expertise without a depth of knowledge.

I was left with wondering if there was anything I could honestly consider myself an expert at.

Just recording some quotes:

p. 45 - the more specific reason that unskilled or incompetent people overestimate their abilities far more than others is because they lack a key skill called meta-cognition - the ability to know when you're not good at something by stepping back and realizing what your doing is wrong.

p. 77 Three-fourths of American undergraduate attend college that accept at least half of their applicants.

p 84  Students take correction as an insult; unearned praise and hollow success build a fragile arrogance.

p 112 Debunking does nothing

p 125  The distinction between lay people and professionals: volunteers do what interest them at any given time, while professionals employ their expertise every day.  Professionals are people who can do their best work when they don't feel like it.

p 217 - Disdain for education is not merely "anti-rational"; it is almost reverse evolution away from tested knowledge and backward toward folk wisdom and myths passed by word of mouth.

p 218 Faced with a public that has no idea how most things work, experts likewise disengage, choosing to speak mostly to each other.

Published:  2017   Read: August 2017  Genre: non-fiction, sociology