Recently, Neil deGrasse Tyson went viral with a video criticizing Terrence Howard for falling prey to the Dunning-Kruger Effect, which was first described in 1999 as a mismatch between actual competence and self-confidence. As Eric Weinstein observed, this may be the ultimate insult that one theorist could throw at another. This is not to say that it’s an inaccurate assessment of Howard; but it’s always interesting to me when people’s assessments of others seem to approach projection.
To illustrate my point, here’s a reaction video I did a couple of years ago, when Tyson himself appeared on Rogan and spun a yarn about how Native Americans were well on their way to becoming a separate species of humans when Europeans arrived in the late 15th century. He has a rough grasp of the general outline of this story, but … well, judge for yourself.
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