We live in angry times.

People are angry because they don’t share the prosperity and opportunities that other have.

They’re cynical because they no longer believe political leaders as a class will keep their promises to fix it.

They distrust authority because, after all, what have scientists and economists delivered to them? How has science made their lives better?

The search for truth, so fundamental to science, has become a contest of opinions, where your opinion is as good as mine. My facts and your facts are merely alternatives to each other and there is no way to distinguish between them.

All this has rolled into a larger wave of skepticism about experts who claim that, as a result of years of study, they know better and are better able to set priorities for society. The long-standing deference to expert knowledge is slipping away, claims Tom Nichols, in his new book, The Death of Expertise.