An anonymous Hacker News contributor argues that today’s professional market rewards appearance over expertise. Scrolling through LinkedIn, the author encountered a flood of self‑styled thought leaders, founders, and so‑called AI experts whose posts contain no clearly substantive content beyond buzzwords daily. The piece invokes philosopher Harry Frankfurt’s definition of bullshit, noting that the bullshitter cares less about truth than about seeming competent.

The writer claims the old contract—learn a skill, do it well, earn reputation—has been supplanted by algorithmic visibility. Platforms prioritize content that garners rapid online engagement, regardless of accuracy. A 2024 study of 6,500 U.S. state legislators found that spreading low‑credibility information correlated with higher platform attention, illustrating how the incentive structure now favors being heard over being correct.

LinkedIn exemplifies this shift, turning professional networking into a stage for “mentorship influencers” who sell hollow advice backed by curated profiles and inflated follower counts. Large language models have lowered the cost of producing convincing nonsense, enabling anyone to churn out polished, yet empty, content at scale. Consequently, diligent practitioners risk becoming invisible as the feed rewards the loudest, least substantive claims today.