What does it mean that the authority audit?

An authority audit is a systematic review of every source you currently trust to inform your beliefs and decisions. It makes unconscious authority delegations visible and evaluable.

Example: You realize you've been citing a particular podcaster's opinions on nutrition in conversations as though they were medical consensus. During an authority audit, you write down every source you trust on health topics: your doctor, two podcasters, a subreddit, your mother's advice, and a book you read in 2019. Looking at this list externally, you notice that three of the five sources have no relevant credentials, yet they occupy the most real estate in your daily thinking. You haven't deliberately chosen these authorities — they accumulated through exposure and emotional resonance.

Try this: Take a single decision domain — health, career, finances, politics, or parenting. List every source that has shaped your current beliefs in that domain: specific people, publications, platforms, institutions, algorithms, and AI tools. For each, answer three questions: (1) Why do I trust this source? (2) What is the scope of their actual expertise? (3) When did I last verify their claims against independent evidence? Notice which sources you trust by default versus which you trust by deliberation.