# When should we defer to experts? # When should we defer to experts The core questions are “when do you listen to experts, when do you ignore them, and what do you do in the middle?” *I’ll try to present the tensions in the form of “on the one hand, on the other hand.”* * On the one hand, if an expert actually has a higher chance of getting the call correct than you it’s probably a good idea as an individual to listen to them ON THE OTHER HAND, everybody following this pattern can lead to information and systematically bad events. [[Information cascades explain a lot of supposedly irrational behavior]] * On the one hand, there are some situations where expertise is broadly applicable ON THE OTHER HAND there are some situations where you need detailed local context * On the one hand, [[It is easier to have ideas come to you when you are not an expert]] ON THE OTHER HAND these ideas are usually shit. ### Related * [[We need more metaexpertise]] * [[People have tried many different attempts to get experts to encode public knowledge in ways that make it easier to connect the pieces]] * [[Talking to experts can expose bad equilibria, the moves necessary to get out of them, and considerations for doing them like cost constraints]] * [[It is easier to have ideas come to you when you are not an expert]] * [[There are secretly three kinds of experts]] * [[Experience does not mean expertise]] * [[Theory of Expertise - James Dama]] * [[Expertise Finding (wikipedia)]] * [[Involving Industry Experts in the Selection of High-Impact Energy Research Projects]] * [[Fundamental Tensions]] * [[Prices are a mechanism for pushing decisions closest to proficiency experts]] * [[If the majority of experts think something is a bad idea, it is not necessarily a bad idea but if zero experts think its a good idea it is probably a bad idea]] [Web URL for this note](http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/When+should+we+defer+to+experts) [Comment on this note](http://via.hypothes.is/http://notes.benjaminreinhardt.com/When+should+we+defer+to+experts)