This is complicated. It involves identity, credibility (accreditation), reputation and authority. For me to be taught, my parents ceded authority to the school

This is complicated. It involves identity, credibility (accreditation), reputation and authority. For me to be taught, my parents ceded authority to the school to appoint credible teachers. Those teachers will have an identity, qualifications and perhaps a reputation. There are consequences for failing or abusing this position. This is the way a lot of traditional things work. To directly answer your question, no. A teacher that taught addition would likely be excellent for teaching multiplication. But, I don't think this is how the internet now works, especially in the social media space. There is infinite identity, which creates trust problems for reputation and credibility. Applying traditional models breaks down. At the moment the dominant factor appears to be who can win a popularity content. Hacker News is interesting in that karma is currency to build credibility and reputation. This model has flaws too. In my opinion, rewarding the most popular is not a long term winning strategy for a society or community. The demand for change only comes from dissenters. Dissenters and different opinions are the engines of change for any society / community, otherwise, without change, it would stagnate and fall into decline. But, in the face of infinite identity what is the collective actually trying to say?