I think you're really on to something here. We're more educated, in the sense that we're attaining higher levels on average (i.e. tertiary education). But this

I think you're really on to something here. We're more educated, in the sense that we're attaining higher levels on average (i.e. tertiary education). But this also means our knowledge is far more specialised. It almost seems like the more proficient someone is in their specialist field (mechanical engineering, for instance) the more likely they are to mistake this highly specialised proficiency for a more generalised one. It's only my anecdotal experience, but I find that these specialists are much more likely to believe all manner of crazy nonsense in areas outside their speciality. And I suspect this is compounded by the fact that at least some people will see a highly proficient mechanical engineer/author/ex-playboy model and think 'Wow, that person is smart. There really must be something to this whole vaccine thing.'