Also I don't think we should "make up [our] own mind" Although it's true that don't-think-for-yourself-and-don't-question-authority is standard practice, it's

Also I don't think we should "make up [our] own mind" Although it's true that don't-think-for-yourself-and-don't-question-authority is standard practice, it's not often one hears someone explicitly argue in favor of it. I have three objections to what you're saying. The first is that it's ahistorical. You don't have to look back very far to see the insanity that human deference to experts can produce. ("Breast feeding is bad for babies", anyone?) Scientific consensus isn't nearly as stable or as true as you're implying; nor, for that matter, nearly as scientific. Which brings me to my second objection: it doesn't consider the economic and political interests that drive these things. There is a great deal of money being made from people being fat and sick. This has a huge influence on the research and regulatory systems surrounding this stuff. It follows that naive trust of consensus recommendations is foolish. Finally, everyone does make up their own mind whether they intend to or not. It's like Sartre said: not to choose is to choose not to choose. Everyone has a pool of their own judgment to allocate; if you like to invest yours completely in the expert consensus du jour, that's your perogative. I like to diversify mine, including putting a little into my "own mind", thanks. As far as I'm concerned, any discourse that penalizes people for asking simple questions is not to be trusted.