Maybe this is a clearer way of thinking about the problem: Imagine you call a friend for help on an essay (on any topic of your choice). But they have access t

Maybe this is a clearer way of thinking about the problem: Imagine you call a friend for help on an essay (on any topic of your choice). But they have access to google and libgen and they're quick at looking. For awhile, on the call, you think your friend is a genius but then you get suspicious. How would you tell if they knew what they were talking about? NB. whether they do or not has nothing to do with whatever qs you come up with -- they do or they dont. And, indeed, people are easy to fool. You might ask, "why care if they know?" but then you have serious questions on things which matter, not just essays. And googling isnt good enough. Being able to weight information by expertise, engage in reasoning in which contradictions are impermissible, engage in causal inference, in abduction -- in imagining possibilities which have never occurred exactly before ------ these suddenly become vital. And your friend who is not a PhD in anything, let alone everything, suddenly becomes vastly more dangerous and insidious.