I agree that armchair "expert opinion" is a significant problem at this time (see Harry Collins, "Are we all scientific experts now?"). However, I'm not sure I

I agree that armchair "expert opinion" is a significant problem at this time (see Harry Collins, "Are we all scientific experts now?"). However, I'm not sure I see how a social emphasis on evidence over authority would invite more of this. Collins, for instance, traces this problem to misplaced feelings of expertise. He believes we should "elevate science to a special position in our society." I mean to suggest that if we focus less on authority ("x says this, x is an expert, x is true") and more on science ("experiment y is evidence that z"), then this kind of layperson interjection would be excluded from social discourse.