Somebody confidently posted this image along with the confident assertion: "Same Difference". This is the second time today that I've seen someone dumb confidently poking fun at how 'dumb' people smarter than them are. I thought to myself that there should be a word for that.
Maybe if OP spent more time listening, reading, and understanding things the whole world would be a better place. I have a rule of thumb for people learning to write code: "Things that are different are not the same." Not everything that is brown tastes like chocolate. Sometimes, a broken line of reasoning is followed by a coincidentally correct answer. This is not the case here. People wandering around unmasked inappropriately because their understanding of contagious disease makes them think a chain link fence is an appropriate analogy here will spread disease faster and further than people who exercise common sense and wear a mask.
I posed the question in this context to Claude.ai:
Somebody posted an analogy that wearing a mask to stop the spread of viral disease was equivalent to someone installing a chain link fence to stop mosquitos. This betrays ignorance of how viruses travel, the mathematics of contagion, what constitutes a reasonable analogy, what constitutes a reliable source, and basic logic. The less able person making that analogy is confident that they are showing how dumb people wearing masks are when they are actually showing how (spectacularly) dumb they are. What vocabulary do we have to describe such a phenomenon and the perpetrators and victims of such? Should we invent a word for someone so ironically attempting to poke fun at people whose behavior they do not properly understand?
This situation perfectly illustrates what's known as the "Dunning-Kruger effect" - when people with limited knowledge or competence in a specific area cannot recognize their own lack of ability and mistakenly assess their cognitive ability as greater than it is.
The mask/chain-link fence analogy reveals several layers of misunderstanding:
- Category error: Viruses primarily travel via respiratory droplets (not as individual virions floating freely), while mosquitoes are self-propelled insects.
- Scale confusion: The analogy fails to account for the vast difference in size between virus-containing droplets (microns) and mosquitoes (millimeters).
- Mechanism misunderstanding: Masks work by impeding the momentum of droplets, not by absolute filtration alone.
- Probability blindness: They miss that reducing transmission probability (even partially) significantly impacts epidemic spread mathematics.
Other relevant concepts include:
- Epistemic trespassing: When someone confidently makes claims outside their area of expertise
- Armchair epidemiology: Non-experts making authoritative statements about disease transmission
- False equivalence: Drawing an inappropriate parallel between fundamentally different scenarios
As for a new term, perhaps "contagious incompetence" - when someone not only displays their misunderstanding publicly but spreads it to others who lack the critical thinking skills to evaluate it properly, creating a cognitive pandemic of sorts.
Or more simply: "expertise illusion" - the confident assertion of demonstrably incorrect information while simultaneously believing one is exposing others' ignorance.
I asked a follow-on question to Poe:
How can we extend or substitute the expression "Epistemic Trespassing" for the situation where the person expressing the point of view is both spectacularly wrong and also expressing contempt toward those much more competent?
You might consider using phrases like:
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"Intellectual Hubris" - This highlights the arrogance of someone who overestimates their knowledge while disregarding experts.
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"Dunning-Kruger Syndrome" - This term captures the phenomenon where individuals with low ability overestimate their competence, often accompanied by disdain for those more knowledgeable.
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"Incompetent Arrogance" - This phrase directly conveys the combination of being wrong and expressing contempt.
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"Misguided Condescension" - This emphasizes both the incorrectness and the contemptuous attitude toward competent individuals.
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"Cognitive Overreach" - This suggests an overextension of one’s understanding, coupled with a dismissive attitude toward experts.
These alternatives capture the essence of the situation you described, emphasizing both the error and the condescension.
ChatGPT had suggestions:
Terminology for Confidently Erroneous Assertions
The English language lacks a precise term encapsulating the combination of confident ignorance and contempt for expertise. However, several terms from other languages and scholarly discourse may capture aspects of this phenomenon:
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Dunning–Kruger Effect: A cognitive bias wherein individuals with low ability overestimate their competence, often failing to recognize their deficiencies.
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Epistemic Trespassing: As defined by philosopher Nathan Ballantyne, this occurs when individuals make authoritative claims outside their domain of expertise, potentially misleading others.
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Ăśberheblichkeit (German): Translates to "arrogance" or "presumption," describing an overestimation of one's abilities or knowledge.
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Beata ignoranza (Italian): Literally "blessed ignorance," this phrase captures the notion of being blissfully unaware of one's lack of knowledge.
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Hubris (Greek origin): Denotes excessive pride or self-confidence, often leading to one's downfall. Wikipedia+1Wikipedia+1
While no single term perfectly encapsulates the specific combination of confident ignorance and disdain for expertise, these terms collectively highlight various facets of the phenomenon. While English lacks a precise term, concepts from other languages and psychological theories can help articulate the nuances of confidently held misinformation.