Everyone's an expert now

Photo by Hunters Race

Some variation of the quote "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes” has been famously attributed to Andy Warhol. In the world of social media and reality television, his prediction seemed to have largely come true.

These days, I’m noticing that expertise is the new fame. However, it’s not granted to those with degrees, education, achievements, or years of field experience, but rather to those who have connections, the gift of gab and clout.

We see people talking about medicine who have done their own research—reading medical journals, if we’re lucky—though more likely, they’ve merely read recaps of studies. We’ve got ‘military experts’ discussing strategy who have never set foot on the battlefield, but have earned their knowledge from the forums of reddit and Telegram chats, as well as an assortment of other self-taught, self-declared experts who are frequently called upon to comment on world events, politics, technology, and science. Often, …