Expertise

Here are some things I’ve asked chatgpt recently:

“why is Toblerone so popular at airport duty-free stores?”

“give me a recipe for a chickpea tagine - I only have a can of chickpeas, button mushrooms, a courgette and some capsicum”

“where should I go for dinner near the ace hotel in sydney?”

The tagine was okay. The restaurant recs from my friends were... See more

Just think about how much effort you have to put into maintaining the facade of being an Expert — how much effort it takes to always appear as “the one who knows”… and compare that to the freedom and flow and playfulness that can open up when you really allow yourself to sink into not knowing, when you no longer care if you make mistakes or if you ... See more

The only experts who still possess authority are blue collar ones. The public still wants to hire the best plumber or car mechanic or hair stylist, and will pay more if these workers have established a reputation for expertise. But the expertise of white collar professionals is derided at every turn

the the truth nobody wants to say out loud is that most people with authority didn’t earn it.

they inherited it.

they faked it.

they politicked their way into it.

they sat in meetings, approved other people’s work, & called it “leadership.”

they were great at navigating the game of perception.

they were terrible at building anything real.

and now the ... See more

And that’s for comparatively structured questions, like “What is the optimal way to convert input X into output Y?” It’s even harder for uncertain jobs, like “What should input Y be?” Was the team that designed the “like” button more productive than the team that produced Slack’s “emoji react” feature? We can argue indefinitely. Maybe the “like” ti... See more