Bullshit

Okay, the title is clickbait, and I am ashamed of that. So, I’ll give you the bottom line up front: the Dunning-Kruger effect is (in my experience) spot-on, and even though it’s a bit of a pop psychology trope these days, I have encountered this effect many times. There’s a delightful (sacrasm) synergy between Dunning-Kruger and imposter syndrome where these two can work together in confusing ways.

We often must judge others, such as when hiring, choosing who to work with, or selecting friends and mates. I find that there are two attributes most desirable in people I associate with, which are authenticity and smartness. There are two simple heuristics for detecting bullshitters and smart people, which I’ll outline below.

One important (and mostly non-mainstream) concept is the idea of manufactured consent. The idea was originally described in a book authored by Noam Chomsky and some other guy in in the 1980s. For a quick summary, check out this video on YouTube which provides a great summary (use youtube-dl to completely avoid the ads).

I was recently trolling someone on Reddit, and in a brief (and regrettable) fit of passion I made a remark only I could love about “transcending the bullshit”. I have often repeated that I intend to one day publish a book titled “Everything is Bullshit”, in honour of the late David Graeber’s Bullshit Jobs, but extending to pretty much all facets of society.