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Also to follow up - I do feel they selectively ignored some of Sagan's larger point about authority. An 'Authority' figure is not in and of itself a trustworth
by skuthus 6y ago
Also to follow up - I do feel they selectively ignored some of Sagan's larger point about authority.
An 'Authority' figure is not in and of itself a trustworthy source. The head of the EPA is not necessarily the top Environmental scientist in the country. He is warning that we must be wary of accepting that because someone is in charge, they know what they are saying - not that we have the ability to pick and choose our preferred outcomes over scientific consensus
- yters 6y agoSo Sagan thinks appealing to authority of consensus is fine, but not authority of someone in charge? It's still not clear to me exactly what sorts of authorities we can and cannot appeal to, and why one sort is fine and another sort is not. And what about authority of a cop (i.e. someone in charge)? If the cop tries to pull me over, am I free to ignore him because he's not a scientific expert, thus he cannot appeal to his own authority?
- swayvil 6y agoMuch online argument seems to focus on which authority you choose.
- skuthus 6y agoThe authority of an entire field of experts vs. the single representative of said experts is a good distinction. Good evidence can be reviewed and confirmed easily. Bad actors will try to obfuscate their information