Expertise is real, but fleeting.

Expertise means you’ve done deep work to figure something out, but it’s only valid in that specific context, and the thing you’ve figured out quickly grows stale as others discover new things.

Expert is a lifestyle title.

Being an expert on the other hand is like a badge of honor. People start believing they have expertise that trancendes contexts, jumping from topic to topic, retaining their authority. Being an expert is like a drug, it gives you authority and status, which is addicting.

Unfortunately a lot of people conflate the two.

In reality there is a lot of expertise. Like Sokrates we migh want to discuss building cities with the ditch-diggers not the academics. But there are no experts. Calling someone an expert is just a claim to authority, a status giving title to pound an argument into the heads of people who never listen.

It’s human to believe in authority. But there is no such thing. In reality there are only arguments, not experts.

If you want to trust someone without doing the work yourself, simply ask yourself if you believe they have done a better job than you would. But even then, try to find a flaw in the argument before you believe it.