A professor examines a student and increasingly does not like what the student telling him. Eventually he interrupts the student and asks him a question. They say exam is a dialogue between two smart people. What happens if one of them is an idiot. Then the other one will fail the exam, replies the student.
Professor did assume that he is the smart one. However, the student was of different opinion.
However, the situation in a joke happens in real life all too often. If a person encounters something smarter than their own intellectual capacity allows them to comprehend, they often dismiss it as stupid.
If such stupid people are in authority and charged with making decisions, they will be unable to tell a smart person from a stupid one. If such a person works in HR for example, they will miss on real talents in favor of hacks and so on.
Because of that there are a lot of smart people who are unable to get ahead in life simply because people in authority are too stupid to understand their genius.
That is detrimental to a broader society as well. Stupid people, selected by equally stupid HR or managers, would not be able to come up with good solutions and deliver the best possible outcomes for businesses or society.
Thus, a kakistocracy only recreates itself if left to its own devices.
Society in theory champions meritocracy. However, is it able to actually achieve it in practice. If people making decisions are not smart enough, then meritocracy de facto devolves into kakistocracy.
Most people who work in HR do not possess any special education and skills. Yet they serve as gatekeepers to employment for many people. This situation leads to reality of modern kakistocracy.
In addition to kakistocracy there could also be a simple bias where HR people simply select people, they like for roles these people unable to fulfill based on subjective personal likes and dislikes. They in turn would simply turn down people they dislike, no matter how qualified they are.
To solve this problem, companies have to rely on more objective methods of selecting and recruiting candidates. Modern technology can easily allow to test applicants' aptitude and ability to perform certain tasks. Such tests would allow people to hire based on merit instead of subjective opinion of an unqualified HR personnel.
This is particularly important in technical, engineering and scientific spheres where lack of knowledge makes person completely useless. It is useful in management, logistics and many other fields as well.
Sure, some fields such as marketing rely on a lot on ability to appeal to subjective feelings. However, with some originality you can test abilities to make a compelling ad campaign as well.
In our current society meritocracy is under threat of creeping invisible kakistocracy of unqualified HR personnel. We need changes to restore meritocracy and hire to positions of authority people who truly deserve it.
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