Credentialism Corollary

Well, the years start coming and they don't stop coming
Fed to the rules and I never stopped running
Didn't make sense not to live for fun
Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb
--Smash Mouth

Previously we proposed that in societies that value credentials, people will be prone to outsource their brains to so-called 'experts'--i.e., those with important credentials. The greater the credentialism, the more likely people are to be misled.

An interesting corollary is that the more educated, and thus the more credentialed, a society becomes, the less able that society is likely to be at reasoned, independent, and integrative thought. 

Because that kind of thought is critical for coping with novel, disruptive change, the implications are paradoxical if not ominous. As a society becomes 'smarter' via credentialed education, its capacity for adapting to major change declines.