7-Bullet Saturday: The Death of Expertise
Because the world isn’t suffering from a lack of information. It’s suffering from too much confidence.
This week, we unpack a dangerous trend: everyone thinks they know everything.
And the loudest person in the room? Usually the least qualified.
Let’s go.
1. What I’m Reading
📖 The Death of Expertise by Tom Nichols
This book is a brutal takedown of a world where YouTube tutorials = PhDs and Google searches = years of research.
🧠 Main punch: We’re living in an era where people trust “vibes” more than vetted knowledge.
We don’t question our opinions—we Google until we confirm them.
💡 Takeaway: Disagreeing isn’t dangerous. But dismissing expertise is.
If you find yourself saying “I’ve done my own research”—pause. That’s often where delusion begins.
2. What I’m Listening To
🎧 "Why Facts Don’t Change Minds" – Hidden Brain podcast
Even when people are factually wrong, showing them the truth usually doesn’t work. Why?
Because logic doesn’t change minds—identity does.
🔑 Insight: We’re not in a knowledge war. We’re in an identity war.
People don’t protect facts. They protect self-image.
💡 Instead of arguing, ask: “What would have to be true for you to change your mind?”
If the answer is “nothing,” you’re not debating. You’re witnessing faith.
3. What I’m Watching
🎥 The Dunning-Kruger Effect Explained – Sprouts (View here)
A short video that explains a long-standing mystery:
Why the least competent people are often the most confident.
The curve is simple:
📉 Low ability → high confidence (because they don’t know what they don’t know)
📈 Real learning → self-doubt (because they realize how much they don’t know)
📈 Mastery → quiet confidence (because they actually know)
💡 You’re not falling behind. You’re just climbing the mountain of self-awareness.
4. What I’m Studying
🧠 Intellectual Humility – The Ultimate Meta-Skill
The smartest people don’t have all the answers.
They ask better questions.
Studies show that people who admit what they don’t know:
🔹 Learn faster
🔹 Solve problems better
🔹 Make fewer bad decisions
💡 True intelligence isn’t certainty. It’s curiosity.
5. Quote I’m Pondering
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance—it is the illusion of knowledge." — Stephen Hawking
Let that sit.
Ignorance can be cured with learning.
But false certainty? That’s a virus that blocks wisdom at the gate.
6. Tool I’m Using
🛠 Perplexity AI — The AI Search Engine for the Skeptical Mind
Most search engines feed you SEO garbage.
Perplexity gives you clean, sourced answers—with citations.
💡 Perfect for when you want insight, not noise.
It doesn’t make you smarter. It just removes the junk that makes you dumber.
🔗 Try it: perplexity.ai
7. Idea I’m Exploring
💡 What if being wrong is a superpower?
We’re terrified of being wrong. But every breakthrough—from science to startups—starts with admitting one thing:
“I thought this was true. I was wrong.”
The people who grow the fastest aren’t the ones with the best ideas.
They’re the ones willing to change their mind the fastest.
So here’s a challenge:
🔁 Pick one belief you hold tightly.
🔍 Investigate it like you might be wrong.
You might not change your mind—but you’ll sharpen it.
Final Thought
Expertise isn’t elitist. It’s earned.
And humility isn’t weakness. It’s the beginning of mastery.
The next time someone says “Trust me, I know”—ask them how they know.
If they can’t explain it simply, they probably don’t understand it deeply.
🎯 This week’s question: What’s something you were confident about… that turned out to be dead wrong?
→ Hit reply. I want to know.
Until next Saturday,
—Luong 🚀