The Experience Fallacy

Experience does not make one right, it makes one biased in favour of that which brought them the most success or helped them avoid the most failure.


It is the inexperience of the experienced person, in being experienced, to assume that the conditions of those they advise are similar enough that they will achieve the same outcomes if they follow in their footsteps.


Experience is valuable insofar as it teaches one about oneself. That experience can be shared insofar as one is willing to hold it loosely and non-authoritatively, recognizing that regardless of how superficially reminiscent one situation or life may be to another, that no two people or paths are the same.


What works for one does not prove that it will work for all. Conversely, what did not work for one does not necessarily mean it will work for none. This is the causation vs. correlation fallacy.


“There is no greater teacher than experience,” only applies when the experience is personal and applied personally, not transposed to others without consideration for their unique differences and situations.