Quote:
Originally Posted by Locke
I always find the opinion of: 'do what the experts say' as though its some sort of actual thought to be interesting.
Its just an opinion much the same as 'we shouldnt let this face-eating monster out as theres a good chance he could eat someone's face' is an opinion.
Its not like 'experts' are ever wrong right?
Its not like its called an expert opinion for nothing right?
Like artificially low interest rates can never be bad and housing will never collapse and the earth is flat?
"Trust the experts" is just an abdication of original thought.
What did we do with the last face-eater? Cant do that anymore? I guess we'll just have to think this through then.
Come on guys, the opinions of the people who think he probably should never be released are at least as valid as the opinions of the people who shrug their shoulders and say 'the experts say he'll be fine.'
Its not like this is run-of-the-mill territory thats very cut and dry. Even 'the experts' seem out on a limb on this one.
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They are as worthy of expressing, but not necessarily as valid.
Generally, people who hold opinions consistently contrary to the experts are called "deniers."
Is denying climate change, evolution, or the holocaust equally valid as saying "the experts agree, those things exist"? I'm going to say 100% no.
I completely agree that an appeal to authority is basic and generally a sign of someone vacant of knowledge or lacking enough to actually put forth a compelling argument (it happens all the time here: "anyone who plays sports... I work in a vaguely related field... I took a course in university... my brother works as a delivery driver ... so I know best!"). The problem with it, though, is the validity of that authority.
In this situation, it's very reasonable to say "let's trust those who have been working with Li for the past several years, who have the education, work experience, clinical background to form an educated opinion" then it is to say "we can never know!"
Sure, WE can never know. But someone knows more than us, and that's worth trusting sometimes.