Look. We have Google now. If you want to know something you just have to Google it. If I had appendicitis while backpacking in the wilderness, my hiking companion could probably save my life with a YouTube video. Many of the more remote trails in the United States now have great mobile coverage. I was able to stream live video from Eastern Sierra streams using Periscope this summer. Watching that video on YouTube it didn’t look too hard. In a pinch, anyone could probably remove an appendix if they needed to, right?
Right?
Well, maybe.
Was that his appendix or his stomach?
Everyone is [Not] an Expert
The great danger of living in an age where you can Google anything you want to know is that everyone is now capable of perpetrating themselves as an expert.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone spout a book-report-quality argument for their newfound expertise and thought… “I better not ask them a question, they’ll have no idea what I’m talking about.”
In truth, sometimes I ask questions just to see how far they’ll carry on the charade.
- They read a couple articles… so they are an expert.
- They watched a couple TED talks… so they are an expert.
- They have a blog… so they are an expert.
- They have a platform… so they are an expert.
And it’s kind of cute, this Google-found-expertise. Cute like buying a tiger as a pet. Eventually both will kill you.
The problem is that these folks get so used to perpetrating the lie that they are an expert on some things that they start to believe they are an actual expert.
What they are is sophomoric. The age of Google inspires them and the age of social media gives them a stage. And it’s pathetic to watch.
Experts Stay With What They Know, So-Called Experts Continue the Charade
We’ve all been around actual experts. People with lots of letters after their names, years of experience in the field, and accolades to back it up.
Most people shut up with their Google research when they encounter an actual expert.
At least the smart people do. But the truly sophomoric, those with a PhD in Googling Stuff, interrupt an expert with things they think they know because they watched a YouTube video a couple years ago.
So how do you know who is an expert and who is a so-called expert?
Three words: I don’t know.
An expert is going to stick to what they actually know. When you ask them something they don’t know, they’ll say it. Because they know getting outside of their expertise makes them look foolish.
A fake expert is going to continue the charade. When you ask them something they just keep talking, they might even start spouting opinions as facts. To them, as long as you’re listening, there’s no line between fact… opinion… and just making stuff up.
Stick to What You Know
When I see people carrying on the charade I just want to remind them, “Please, stick to what you know.”
A lot of my friends are experts in theology, religion, and Christian doctrine. My advice? Stick to what you know.
We need you to stick to what you know. We live in a world where everyone seems to be just making it up as they go along. And we need experts who are brave enough to tell people what they know but also wise enough to say “I don’t know about that…”
It’s OK to say you don’t know. In fact, in a world where everyone seems to know everything about everything… they might be the three most powerful words you know.
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