Re:Are Experts Real?
by analog31 on Monday January 11, 2021 @11:01PM
(#25742100)
I think experts exist, but there's a problem with translating expert opinion in evolving fields into actionable advice that can be communicated to the masses through the news, and that can withstand aggressive, organized skeptical attack.
Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, just because it rolls a whole bunch of different things into one blanket statement, and sounds like a rant, which it kind of is.
The world is fucked.
What's the point of an organized skeptical attack on experts? I think I can attribute to Imre Lakatos the thought that if you can completely discredit the experts, and make it impossible to decide on facts, then you create a power vacuum that can only be filled by those who are capable of acting in the absence of facts, such as thugs and tyrants. You have effectively censored the experts with greater efficiency than any government censorship program could ever dream of. I believe this is the precise reason for "the war on the truth."
Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, just because it rolls a whole bunch of different things into one blanket statement, and sounds like a rant, which it kind of is.
The world is fucked.
What's the point of an organized skeptical attack on experts? I think I can attribute to Imre Lakatos the thought that if you can completely discredit the experts, and make it impossible to decide on facts, then you create a power vacuum that can only be filled by those who are capable of acting in the absence of facts, such as thugs and tyrants. You have effectively censored the experts with greater efficiency than any government censorship program could ever dream of. I believe this is the precise reason for "the war on the truth."