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If the argument is sound and based on correct premises, any credentials or lack thereof are irrelevant. There is also a performative contradiction here, i.e. if
by voldacar 6y ago
If the argument is sound and based on correct premises, any credentials or lack thereof are irrelevant.
There is also a performative contradiction here, i.e. if the attitude of igmoring all arguments from non-credentialed people were held by everyone throughout history, science and modernity never would have developed.
- jbroman 6y agoSure, but a credentialed person is more likely to be familiar with other research in the area and have expertise with state of the art techniques in the field. So an uninformed reader (with less background than either to critically evaluate the work) should, all else equal, prefer the analysis of an expert. That's not to say the expert cannot be wrong, but a non-expert has a greater need to establish the credibility of their argument.
- leblancfg 6y agoI tried to fix my car with sound arguments and correct premises once. It’s what you don’t know that you don’t know that matters.
- nickthemagicman 6y agoI fix my car all the time. You can fix almost all things in your car watching youtube videos. Am I just a super genious or just not intellectually lazy?
- leblancfg 6y agoI wasn't really talking about cars.
- jryb 6y ago> If the argument is sound and based on correct premises Therein lies the rub. The problem with a layperson doing this kind of analysis is that they might not even realize that certain beliefs are unfounded assumptions. Obviously experts are also vulnerable to the same thing, and they can have other biases, but they won't make the unintuitive mistakes that their field has learned to avoid through empirical study. I guess what this argues for is peer review, which I suppose is what this comments section is in a sense. But the article doesn't link to any criticism, nor does it seek it out.
- nickthemagicman 6y agoThe beauty of science is that reality will prove them correct or not.
- 1shooner 6y agoConversely, if the validity of an argument on complex subjects (like epidemiology) could be accurately judged by a lay audience with no deference to expertise they don't possess, then there would be no need for science and modernity.
- nickthemagicman 6y agoI think you might not understand what science is. It's a process . It's making observations and proving a theory. When you burn your hand on the stove and make the theory that the stove caused your hand to be burned and don't do it again. That's science.
- GeekyBear 6y agoOr maybe we will just act like the state of Oregon when they didn't like that an engineer educated in the EU called them out for not properly timing their traffic lights, and fine him for reaching conclusions we don't like.