When Everyone's an Expert, Almost No One Knows Anything

The biggest casualty of the information age is the belief in expertise

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In the executive summary of a report on disruptive technologies I wrote in 2017, I talked about how the creators of investing applications had seized upon what I referred to as “the democratization of technology,” which is fancy Wall Street speak for saying that, since almost everyone has a smartphone, a tablet, smartwatch—or perhaps all three—everybody has access to virtually every piece of information that exists, at least in theory.

According to a survey, nearly half of men think they can safely land a plane in an emergency. Source: The Hill

The problem with my turn of phrase, true though it may be, is that not all information is reliable. When we combine an underfunded public education system and an internet awash with misinformation, a swath of the population is prone to believe just about anything.

America didn't invent everything, dammit

My grandmother had this saying about ignorant people: “Everybody thought that jackass was a horse until he opened his mouth.” As a kid I found immense humor in her quip, probably because it contained the word “ass.” The older I get, however, the more I understand what she meant.

Last fall, Shannon and I did a pop-up at a vendor fair held at one of the area’s microbreweries, when a lady positioned a cool little van alongside our bus. The van was so unusual, I felt obliged to strike up a conversation. The van’s owner operates a mobile flower shop, selling floral arrangements.

I’m fairly certain that she said the cute little vehicle was a Subaru Sambar Classic Kei Van. Because it’s built in Japan, the steering wheel is on the right side. As I sat under my tent drinking a dark beer, one couple after another browsed by our two vehicles. Unsurprisingly, most of the men were more interested in the van than the flowers, drawing the attention of their female companions.

One couple in particular caught my attention. Both were fascinated by the unusual van, but the location of the steering wheel troubled the man, who remarked to his female companion:

“I don’t know why they [apparently referring to the Japanese manufacturer] don’t put their steering wheels on the same side we do over here. We’re the ones who invented cars!!!”

Because Henry Ford is credited with being the first to mass produce them, many people assume, in error, that he invented the automobile. But that honor belongs to Karl Benz, whose German company built the first four-wheeled automobile in 1893, and later merged with Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft to form Daimler-Benz, the company that produces Mercedes-Benz automobiles.

When I heard the fellow make the erroneous comment, my first instinct was to give him the correct information. But based on his high level of certainty, it took me less than a nanosecond to decide to focus on my beer.

The shape of things

I was reminded of my report again yesterday, when I ran across the viral clip from “The Joe Budden Podcast” in which a podcaster who goes by “Ish” attempts to debate academic and author Marc Lamont Hill about whether or not the Earth is round. Despite asserting that numerous academic sources exist to back up this claim, Ish could not cite a single one.

Several years ago, I had a similar conversation during a phone call with my eldest son, who was also convinced the Earth is flat. In support of this theory, he directed me to the YouTube page of an individual whose only expertise seemed to be knowing how to access the internet. For the next minute or two, I listened to the “expert” who’d convinced my son the plane was as flat as a pancake.

Once I’d had my fill of his unscientific nonsense, I made a mistake. I suggested that my son keep his flat-earth beliefs to himself. My comment escalated the conversation, resulting in an exchange of shouts and profanities. After several months of the silent treatment, things returned to normal. Since then, we’ve had an unspoken agreement to table the question of the planet’s shape.

My son is a professional welder who’s currently working in Alaska for an oil company. Sometimes he ventures into the Arctic Circle. Recently, he’s sent videos of the moose clusters that frequent the area. Other times, he sends me beautiful shots of the Northern Lights.

I’ve resisted the temptation to tell him the aurora borealis wouldn’t be possible but for the Earth’s magnetic field—and the planet’s roundness. But for now, at least, it hardly seems worth mentioning.

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