The Dunning-Kruger effect is the tendency for people with low ability in a specific area to overestimate their skill. Psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger formalised and tested it in 1999, using tasks such as logical reasoning and grammar and comparing people's self-assessments with their actual scores. The explanation is that poor performers lack the skill needed to recognise good work, so they cannot see how far short they fall. The effect also works in reverse, as high performers often underestimate themselves, and the pattern has been found in fields from medicine to driving.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.