This piece was tough to write, in part because it addresses an issue in psychiatry for one of its core examples—and I take very seriously not wanting to disrupt other people’s paths to wellness.
Still, many scientific fields have met with serious setbacks as of late, which can be difficult to translate to critical policy changes. That disconnect can create a crisis of expertise--at least, if we forget what “knowledge” really is, and how to practise it better every day.
https://open.substack.com/pub/mlclark/p/the-end-of-expertise-the-beginning
And it works, because far too many people invoke authority without interrogating *what* makes that person or organization authoritative.
Critical thinking skills are difficult to acquire later in life - and yet, even plenty of people who learned them once can still forget them if they're not kept in routine use.
We're a silly, fragile bunch, no?
@MLClark indeed we are