Scientific Expertise

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How far should we go with science?

What should scientific knowledge and authority mean in our lifes? What are its limits? See The place of scientific experience

The dilemma - who can be trusted?

What authority should we trust? How do we assess scientific or other expertise? If I'm not a scientist, how can I distinguish a scientist's well-informed informed expert knowlege from bias, prejudice or special pleading? How can I know the doctor isn't just prejudiced against couch potatoes? How do I know the mechanic isn't just protecting his income when he says the brakes need fixing?

Some strategies

• assess the ideas being advanced rather than the overall expertise of the authority advancing them
• read or listen to the authority, provisionally assessing sincerity, dogmatic tendencies, unwarranted out-of-fieldness and bias arising from special interest. If dogs can detect humbug from tone of voice, so can you!
• ask if you are truly willing to be persuaded - if not, you have already made your decision so don't pretend!
• try to get a superficial understanding, remembering how fast things sometimes go from "cutting edge" to "every child should know" (This type of knowledge is simplified, passive, full of errors, and valuable if not abused.)
• remember that you are listening to a foreign language and will not understand properly
• look for corroborating evidence from practical applications
• look for acceptance by other experts in peer review but especially in their commitment of prestige, time and career moves
• listen to opposing views, being wary of prejudice or dismissiveness
• watch out for financial or other motives that may lead to bias
• where religion is involved, watch out for discrepancies between the authority's views on Sunday and his/her professional publications; also for any too-convenient alignment with a sectarian dogma
• concoct a provisional competing theory as you go along - not that you believe it, just for protection
• trust your interest, your intuition and your innate, God-given skepticism - be fascinated by everything but convinced by no more than you must be