I love Scott, but I think OP's meaning is not about verifying discoveries, but rather having the tools necessary to create discoveries in the first place. You can't invent an electric motor without electricity. Alternatively, think about how Da Vinci has many notebooks full of ideas- but lacked the resources to create them.

Scott's article is mostly on point here, but he dismisses the "respect" idea too quickly. As humans we are confronted with an overwhelming array of information and opinions from a huge number of sources. It's natural to apply a filtering based on our perceived reputation of said sources. And hearing that someone does not believe that HIV causes Aids despite extremely compelling evidence to the contrary is good cause for decreasing that reputation value.