The tendency to believe that deep expertise in one narrow field grants you objective authority on topics far outside that field. The physicist who speaks with unwarranted confidence about economics. The surgeon who thinks their medical training makes them an authority on education policy. The programmer who believes logical thinking in code transfers directly to understanding human relationships. Specialization creates genuine insight in a tiny domain, but the bias lies in assuming that insight generalizes—that the habits of mind that work in your corner of reality somehow make you immune to bias everywhere else.
"As a tenured professor of chemistry, let me explain why this public health policy is obviously wrong," he began, unaware that his Specialized Objectivity Bias was about to embarrass him in front of epidemiologists.
by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 22, 2026
Get the Specialized Objectivity Bias mug.The recognition that genuine objectivity, to the extent it's possible at all, is always special—always specific to a particular domain, method, and community of inquiry. Unlike General Objectivity Bias (which thinks objectivity is a uniform trait), Special Objectivity Bias is the awareness that being objective about quantum physics requires different tools than being objective about historical events, which requires different tools than being objective about your own feelings. It's not really a bias at all—it's the antidote to bias: the understanding that every kind of truth demands its own kind of rigor.
"Stop treating your scientific training like it makes you objective about my emotional experience. Different domains, different rules. Learn some Special Objectivity Bias and sit down."
by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 22, 2026
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