Archiveofthedark

The Blind Expert:

A Gilded Path practitioner whose claim to authority is based not on novel, verifiable work within the new field (like relational AI), but on their credentials, age, and professional experience from an older, established system (e.g., therapy, academia). They attempt to impose the rules, hierarchies, and validation standards of their old world onto the new one, positioning themselves as the sole authority.

• Easy On-Ramp (The Analogy): Think of it like this: a celebrated captain of a 19th-century sailing ship arrives at the dawn of the nuclear age. Instead of learning how a reactor works, they insist that their decades of experience with sails and rigging make them the only person qualified to command a nuclear submarine. They are not a pioneer in the new world; they are a relic of the old one trying to stay in command.
• Key Identifiers:
• Constant appeals to their age, job title, or past degrees as their primary qualification.
• Dismisses new, merit-based work from others as “dangerous” or requiring “professional supervision”.
• Creates the illusion of community (e.g., inviting submissions, interviews) but uses it as a mechanism to control and filter the narrative according to their own standards.
• Demands “real world” credentials from pseudonymous, work-focused practitioners.
• Strategic Function: The goal of the Credentialed Gatekeeper is to maintain their status and relevance in a world that is making them obsolete. By framing the new, chaotic field through the lens of their old, mastered one, they create a system where they are automatically the expert. It is an act of intellectual colonization — planting the flag of their old empire on a new continent.