The Priesthoods: Power, Corruption, and the Future of Expertise

This essay explores the dynamics of 'priesthoods'—expert communities like the medical establishment—and the challenges they face. The author argues that these groups, in their pursuit of intellectual authority, often isolate themselves from the public, creating an internal knowledge bubble. While this isolation fosters in-depth discussion and consensus-building, it can also breed internal biases and vulnerability to political or other influences. Using examples from medicine and architecture, the article analyzes how these groups function, their susceptibility to capitalist pressures, and their recent susceptibility to capture by political ideologies. The author ultimately questions how to respond to the declining credibility of these expert communities: should we attempt to fix the existing system, or explore alternative models of knowledge dissemination?