I agree knowledge enriches our lives. But so does a ditch digger digging a sewer line or a garbage man collecting the garbage. Everyone who "works" to contribute to society. But the core question revolved around the smartest person in the room is not defined by education unless that education is focused on the topic at hand and even then, it could be biased.

Specific to the grant funding process, I do have concerns that the "knowledge" we often build is biased by the funding source leading to corruption in the knowledge.

A friend of mine who is an academic talked about career success at universities is often tied to success at securing research grants. Unfortunately, getting research grants is often tied to biasing the results. This fear has been verified by numerous studies showing the impact of COI funding on research.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK593752/

As someone who worked in health care his whole career, I have come to believe the RFK, Jr is correct. "Our knowledge" surrounding nutrition and health is so seriously tainted by the financial interests of Big Pharma and Big Food as to seriously compromise its value.