Crisis Limiting

Status, Class, And The Crisis Of Expertise

Dan Williams | Conspicuous Cognition | 31st May 2025

The populist rejection of expertise goes beyond skepticism; it is rooted in status threat and humiliation. Expertise is perceived as “epistemic charity”, a “one-way deference” that concedes the experts’ higher status. “The scientist, academic and fact-checker do not expect to learn anything from ordinary voters.” In response, populists promise a status reversal by elevating “common sense” over “expert authority” (3,700 words)

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Limiting Reason

Richard Chappell | Good Thoughts | 2nd June 2025

On navigating moral uncertainty. The challenge is to not be an Easy Dupe, fooled by “clever-sounding but ultimately facile reasoning”. One way to do this is through Dogmatism: dismiss anything which seems intuitively outrageous. This carries its own moral risk of never questioning one’s cultural blind spots. “We know that many important moral truths sounded ridiculous to past generations” (1,600 words)