I was recently reminded of this article, which resonated with me at the time, and still does. I’m guessing all of us could pin a few names to people we might label as “confident idiots”, but I wonder how often we turn the mirror on ourselves and measure our perceived wisdom against the Dunning-Kruger curve? One particular example that I find a little irksome is the number of people who describe themselves as “expert” in their personal bios.

Self-proclaimed expertise might just have a hint of bias in it, and – IMHO – indicates the person has not yet made that important journey from Mt Stupid through the Valley of Despair to some degree of enlightenment. Apart from which I don’t think it’s possible to quantitatively measure “expertise”. It’s an opinion that can be bestowed on others, but should never applied to oneself. So maybe now’s the time to look at those personal bios, and think if “experienced” might be a better descriptor than “expert“. I can live with ‘experienced‘!

The Dunning-Kruger Effect

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Original source – Steve Dale online

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