Re:Science by democracy doesn’t work
by pdonis on Saturday January 24, 2015 @07:18PM
(#8941586)
> You cannot be an expert in every field and actually follow the evidence to make up your own conclusion (which btw does not guarantee that your interpretation of the evidence is correct).
This is true; but it doesn't mean that trusting experts is necessarily going to make you any better off. If the experts themselves aren't following the evidence, either because they have an ideological axe to grind or because there simply isn't enough evidence to be helpful, their opinions won't be of any more value than yours.
> I feel helpless every time I'm at the doctor's office. I cannot just "follow the evidence".
And many doctors can't either. Medicine is not a very advanced science compared to your field, physics. In fact, there are practically no sciences which are as advanced as physics. So if you're expecting that experts in other fields are basing their advice on the sort of evidence and predictive theories that you're used to seeing in physics, you're going to be very disappointed.
This is true; but it doesn't mean that trusting experts is necessarily going to make you any better off. If the experts themselves aren't following the evidence, either because they have an ideological axe to grind or because there simply isn't enough evidence to be helpful, their opinions won't be of any more value than yours.
> I feel helpless every time I'm at the doctor's office. I cannot just "follow the evidence".
And many doctors can't either. Medicine is not a very advanced science compared to your field, physics. In fact, there are practically no sciences which are as advanced as physics. So if you're expecting that experts in other fields are basing their advice on the sort of evidence and predictive theories that you're used to seeing in physics, you're going to be very disappointed.