This post is a response to "How can we avoid giving too much power to experts?" https://ecency.com/hive-150329/@llyran-noble/week-15-questions posed by @llyran-noble.
This is a great question. In today's time, it is easy to simply rely on experts for their opinions and not giving things another thought. It keeps us from having to do our own research and put in the work needed to make informed decisions on our own. Thus, when an expert offers their opinion, it is convenient for people to simply rely on what they say, as opposed to challenging it.
So, how can we avoid giving experts too much power?
I think the biggest thing that we can do is to recognize that experts are themselves human and make mistakes. When we give experts too much credit and rely on them more than we should, that is when they have gain more and more power. Therefore, we should not look at what experts say as the "end all be all" on a subject, but rather, simply value what they say and take it with a grain of salt. This is the main point of Dr. Roger Koppl, and his book regarding valuing expert expertise but fearing expert power. He pushed for re-defining the idea of an expert, as "someone paid for their opinion" (min 42). Thus, not everyone can simply shed light on something and that be an "expert opinion." But rather, only those who are paid to give their opinion should be able to be viewed as an expert on the subject. This still does not mean that we should only take what they say and run with it. We should value what they know and the research they have put in, but we should not simply rely on what they say as 100% fact and never question it. That is way too dangerous and there are many times that experts have been wrong - so we must be aware of that.