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> We should also hopefully be in agreement that we should trust people who devote their life to studying an issue over someone new who merely has gut feelings a
by calpaterson 10y ago
> We should also hopefully be in agreement that we should trust people who devote their life to studying an issue over someone new who merely has gut feelings about it -- and hence is even more biased in many additional ways.
Unfortunately this is sometimes untrue. For example: Long Term Capital Management was run by some of the most expert academic financiers perhaps ever gathered together and it blew up. Lord Kelvin thought X-Rays were a hoax. It is the blanket assumption that specialists in a field should be trusted that is mistake. Specialism has an important place but epistemology is a difficult subject and it is a matter for everyone.
- psyklic 10y agoIt's all about who to trust. Science sometimes gets it wrong for a while, as do some scientists. However, I would trust expert academic financiers over someone who by luck happened to have a good year with his or her stock picks.
- coolgeek 10y agoAlso, experts - as a class - are vastly more likely to change their minds based on new evidence than are ideologues. "When my information changes, I alter my conclusions. What do you do, sir?" https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Maynard_Keynes https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Maynard_Keynes