“In other words, experts are often called in, not to provide factual information or dispassionate analysis for the purpose of decision-making by responsible officials, but to give political cover for decisions already made and based on other consideration entirely. The shifting  of socially consequential decisions from systematic processes, involving millions of people making mutual accommodations- at their own costs and risks- to experts imposing a master plan on all would be problematic even if the experts were free to render their own best judgment.  In situations where experts are simply part  of the window dressing concealing arbitrary and even corrupt decisions by others, reliance on what “all the experts” say about a given issue is extremely risky. Even when the experts are untrammeled, what “all the experts” are most likely to agree on is the need for using expertise to deal with the problem.”

“Experts have their place and can be extremely valuable in those places, this no doubt being one reason for the old expression, “Experts should be on tap, not on top.”

From Intellectuals and Society by Thomas Sowell