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Yeah you're right. I probably framed it too narrowly against engineers. A better way to put it is people are biased creatures and engineers are no different eve

Yeah you're right. I probably framed it too narrowly against engineers. A better way to put it is people are biased creatures and engineers are no different even though there is a tendency to believe they are more analytical or creative. I disagree with you on the "easy route" though. I don't think engineers appeal to authority because of an intentional decision to take an easy route. I think engineers do it because it's just an inmate bias people have. People's identities and beliefs are dictated more by emotion and pre-existing notions rather then logic.

btrettel 7y ago
> I disagree with you on the "easy route" though. I don't think engineers appeal to authority because of an intentional decision to take an easy route. I think engineers do it because it's just an inmate bias people have. People's identities and beliefs are dictated more by emotion and pre-existing notions rather then logic. This is a strong possibility. In retrospect, I don't actually know the reasons why people defer to authorities so often and was speculating. I'd be very interested in the reasons why and how, if possible, we could influence people to be more critical.