Why Expertise Matters: A Response to the Challenges

Five different scientific communities are challenging the abilities of experts and even the very concept of expertise: the decision research community, the sociology community, the heuristics and biases community, the evidence-based practices community, and the computer science community (including the fields of artificial intelligence, automation, and big data). Although each of these communities has made important contributions, the challenges they pose are misguided. This essay describes the problems with each challenge and encourages researchers in the five communities to explore ways of moving forward to improve the capabilities of experts.