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You are onto something very important. No one can be expert in every domain. So, one has to trust judgments of the people from other domains and institutions. H
by raincom 6y ago
You are onto something very important. No one can be expert in every domain. So, one has to trust judgments of the people from other domains and institutions. However, if people with authority (not institutional authority) conflate science with policy positions, these 'authoritative' people and institutions lose their authority. That's how conspiracy theories emerge. Authoritative people and institutions have 'abused' their positions.
- Ericson2314 6y agoHere's a tentative conjecture. People in power, in the West, are disproportionately lawyers with humanities skills, or business types with no skills (lol). As our society increasingly fails, knowledge of math and science is increasingly important to convey truth. Politicians have long repeated repeated what experts tell them (when they are telling the truth), but now that they are repeating something they cannot well understand themselves, it just comes us stale / on faith alone.
- raincom 6y agoLawyers are paid to defend their clients. Every politician is a lawyer by trade. What do they do? Defend the sectional interests of their sponsors. That's what we see in the West: general interests are subordinated to the corporatist/sectional interests. This is the expected result, anyway; it is just a matter of how long does it take to reach the state of "sectional interests taking over general interests".
- Ericson2314 6y agoI'm sorry but this just reads as vague pessimism to me > Lawyers are paid to defend their clients. Every politician is a lawyer by trade. No, that would be true if "people paid to defend their clients are Lawyers". Lawyers offer a specific service to client, distinct from bodyguards and others who provide defense. Politicians do want to get reelected, but there are many ways for that to be. Nothing about politics is inherently sublimely, or sleazy things like ALEC inevitable. It rather the due to very specific problems in the US such as terrible voting systems. > This is the expected result, anyway To whom?
- belltaco 6y agoExamples?
- cameronbrown 6y agoI think you touched on a great point here. Thinking a lot about this lately and I'm convinced the authority figures don't just don't understand why people have stopped trusting them. Trump's election was a perfect symptom of the problem.
- class4behavior 6y ago> That's how conspiracy theories emerge. No, most conspiracy theories are based on ignorance or fallacious reasoning as well as mistaking cynicism for reason or critical thinking.