21 Experts on the Future of Expertise - Future

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.

The generative intellectual environments that academic institutions house and foster are being recreated or entirely rethought online, outside of the brick walls of a university. Internet salons, writer collectives, open-source software, fellowships, and cohort-based courses are providing modern alternatives to those institutions. You don’t need an... See more

Hollis Robbins: Most people focus on the vast reserves of content now available online, but few people ask: “Is this a good teacher?”

Andy Bromberg: The wisdom of crowds is giving way to the “wisdom of communities.” In a world of ever-greater complexity, no one person can possibly make sense of all the signals and all the noise — from a single, static vantage point. A networked group is required to adapt to this new world... People are no longer being polled in isolation but rath... See more

Tamara Winter: While most experts acknowledge the importance of seeking input from people like this — that is, those with skin in the game — when making decisions, it happens so rarely in practice. It’s not hard to think of examples of this phenomenon across very different industries, from education to healthcare, to city planning and administratio... See more

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

Without the academic formality and pressure to uphold institutional reputation, experts now share their knowledge in ways that are decidedly more engaging and even non-academic — say, humorous memes or storytelling devices to explain concepts — across podcast episodes, newsletters, YouTube videos, TikTok clips, and Twitter threads.

Matt Clifford: The internet prizes showing, not telling, whether via a GitHub profile, YouTube channel, a Substack newsletter, or even a timestamped tweet that makes a prediction. Don’t tell me you’re an expert, show me.

Fadeke Adegbuyi: The command and deep understanding of a subject has been decoupled from credentialism. Experts can be born and brought up on the internet, bypassing post-secondary institutions and other centralized forms of education and knowledge dissemination….Additionally, the rate at which the internet allows for information to be generated an... See more