Too Many Experts

Too Many Experts

 When I worked as a veterinarian, I was always amazed at how many horse experts there were. Almost every time I was called to examine a horse, neighbours would show up who professed to know far more than I did about my patient and their health. I never really figured out why this phenomenon was so prevalent with horses. It was relatively rare to have self-styled authorities show up with advice about cattle, sheep, pigs, or goats.

My response to these unqualified authorities was always to ignore them and continue quietly with my examinations and treatments.

Unfortunately, I believe that we are in an age of unqualified experts. Much of the blame for this reality lies with the internet and social media.

In the not-so-distant past, information was generally available to us from either books or bona fide experts. Most of us were savvy enough to recognize false experts and pay little attention to their opinions. However, there were always a few individuals who thought they knew everything.

If a question came up concerning the capital of Sierra Leone or the exact age of Frank Sinatra, it was unlikely anyone would know or could quickly find out. Very occasionally someone who was knowledgeable in geography or was a fanatic Sinatra fan would know the answer. If there was an atlas nearby, we could find out that Freetown was the city name we were looking for. If no one knew Frank’s birthday we were likely out of luck.

That has changed completely since the internet is available everywhere. For almost every factual question we can think of, there is a quick answer online.

This change has taken some of the mystique away from discussions, but it has allowed us to find out almost anything we want to know. As a result of this power, many people have concluded that they can or do know everything. That’s a dangerous way to think.

The problem with this confidence is that there are two kinds of question, simple ones and complex ones. A celebrity’s birthday or the location of a city are simple questions that have one correct answer we can easily find online. The complex questions are a completely different matter.

The questions we argue about the most are often the most complicated. A common question now is whether the vaccines we have for Covid-19 are effective and safe.  

There is no absolute answer to this question. The first problem is the word safe. Before we can talk about safety, we need some idea about what that means. Everything we do has some risk attached and safety is about how much of this risk we can accept.

Another problem with the question of vaccine effectiveness and safety is how complicated the technology involved is. I spent thirty years planning vaccination programs to keep animals safe from disease. Nine years in university studying immunology and virology gave me a basis to start from.The vaccines we are using for Covid are completely different than what I worked with. I don’t pretend to know much about them, but I do know enough to be confident that mRNA vaccines are safer and better than the antigen-based vaccines we had before. I’m also certain that these vaccines have nothing to do with G5 cell tracking or outlandish plans to enslave the world.

I don’t pretend to be an expert on Covid or modern vaccines, but I’m amazed at the people who know nothing about basic science who think they know how to respond to a pandemic better than the real experts.

The internet holds an incredible amount of information. For simple questions it is easy to find quick answers but for complex questions it is easy to find answers that are wrong. The online world is rife with experts who know very little.