Patrick Wyman: We’re not dealing with a crisis of expertise itself as much as a crisis of explanation. Far too many disciplines (most notably, epidemiology and public health over the last year) have run face-first into their inability to make the general public understand what they’re saying and why. .. All disciplines have their own technical lang... See more

Gabby Dizon: This shattering of the “geographic lottery” — where you win the location lottery merely by being born where you are, as opposed to showing your expertise from where you are — is now being helped along by the ongoing construction of crypto infrastructure.

Andy Coravos: When people ask what you do, they really seem to be asking who you are, putting the attention on people’s credentials within institutions (the nouns) rather than on their actions and contributions (how they live, work, and cultivate knowledge in their fields). Expertise is equated with the former, when it should be more about the latt... See more

Jacob McHangama: Future generations will marvel at the new perspectives, voices, and knowledge that have come to light in the digital era and simply weren’t possible (or deemed desirable) in the age of analog. Where does all this leave expertise? Expertise remains crucial to knowledge production, but it must reflect genuine excellence in a given fi... See more

Hamish McKenzie: On social media, posers are often given the most status points, and so we’re left with a misleading idea of authority; it seems the people who are loudest in their claims to be experts — the ones we hear from most on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube — are the ones to be most wary of. When self-proclaimed experts are ultimately reveal... See more

Sotonye Jack: The ‘institution’ of the internet has arisen at the same time that legacy sense-making institutions have struggled with errors and botched predictions... For the first time in history, the power to pursue truth and make up your own mind is backed by the decentralized sum of all human knowledge, which changes the game of expertise from... See more

Nadia Eghbal: It’s not just the discovery of knowledge (i.e., learning new things) that’s easier now, but also the validation (where your peers, rather than an accredited institution, decide whether your insights are worth discussing) and distribution of knowledge. Sharing new ideas previously required working with centralized gatekeepers, like a u... See more

David Lang: Most scientists are under tremendous pressure to constantly publish. That realization caused me to view scientific expertise through the lens of incentives. I’m nervous to use that language, because it’s the same line that conspiracy theorists use to deny and obfuscate facts, but I do think it’s the fault line.

Right now, we’re either witnessing a golden age of expertise or a crisis of expertise, depending on who you ask. It’s undeniable that technology has democratized access to high-quality information, data, and tools for research, creation, and distribution.