Who’s an expert?

This is becoming a much harder question to answer.

It used to be that experts were often certified or obvious. You were an expert if you’ve published on the subject. You were an expert if you’ve been through enough school. You were an expert if you were widely recognized as an expert.

Broadly speaking, “are you published?” is no longer a useful metric. You might argue successfully that I should shut up and go home, because all I’ve ever done is post my opinions on Eat Sleep Publish.

School seems to be lagging behind the times now, too. It’s still the cutting-edge place for expensive scientific research and any kind of progress that requires huge institutional resources, but what about software development and network effects? What about social media?

Becoming a real expert is just as hard as it ever was. You need to acquire real knowledge and real skills by putting in the time and work to get there. But faking expertise is easier than ever.