It’s a balance, but I personally do think so. You ever work for a boss who has no clue what they are doing but insist on micromanaging you, the person who is the subject matter expert?
What the web and social media has done is normalized everyone’s voice to 1. This is great for some things but not so great for issues where you truly need a subject matter expert. When an SME can be “refuted” by someone who not only knows less but also has incorrect and incomplete knowledge that’s a recipe for a dangerous situation.
Example: I don’t know nearly anything about water treatment plants. But literally nothing prevents me from starting a YouTube channel about how water treatment plans are insufficient and giving people recipes on how to use lead to kill bacteria in their drinking water. And let’s assume for the sake of the argument that I can sound quite convincing to those who don’t know me. Terrifying prospect, no?
I’m the before times the cost of publishing content was high and as a result only those who had something worthwhile to say were able to get their ideas out there. This all changed in the 1990s once the web “democratized” publication. But prior to that we somehow survived for millennia without everyone being able to express their uninformed or under informed opinion on technical matters.
What the web and social media has done is normalized everyone’s voice to 1. This is great for some things but not so great for issues where you truly need a subject matter expert. When an SME can be “refuted” by someone who not only knows less but also has incorrect and incomplete knowledge that’s a recipe for a dangerous situation.
Example: I don’t know nearly anything about water treatment plants. But literally nothing prevents me from starting a YouTube channel about how water treatment plans are insufficient and giving people recipes on how to use lead to kill bacteria in their drinking water. And let’s assume for the sake of the argument that I can sound quite convincing to those who don’t know me. Terrifying prospect, no?
I’m the before times the cost of publishing content was high and as a result only those who had something worthwhile to say were able to get their ideas out there. This all changed in the 1990s once the web “democratized” publication. But prior to that we somehow survived for millennia without everyone being able to express their uninformed or under informed opinion on technical matters.