Re:The Limits of Expertise
by dabbledash on Thursday June 14, 2018 @01:55PM
(#17313737)
I don’t think I buy the author’s explanation, at least not entirely. There are a lot people who don’t respect expertise on things like vaccination.
People have a hard time accepting expertise when the claims of experts are probabilistic instead of definitive. (Because they will perceive experts as wrong when <50% probability things do happen or >50% things don’t happen. And they will see the experts as wishy washy in any case.)
People have a hard time accepting expertise when the claims of experts are inconsistent with philosophical or political positions that are core to people’s identities.
People have a hard time accepting expertise when the claims of experts are probabilistic instead of definitive. (Because they will perceive experts as wrong when <50% probability things do happen or >50% things don’t happen. And they will see the experts as wishy washy in any case.)
People have a hard time accepting expertise when the claims of experts are inconsistent with philosophical or political positions that are core to people’s identities.