Lol, what. Too many people think that trusting people who are experts is being a sheep. The reason people do PhD's in such narrow fields is because the scope otherwise is far too broad for any human to reasonably become an expert in. We research narrowly due to the sheer volume of knowledge.
Noone can be reasonably expected to know everything about everything, and nobody is capable of doing "their own research" at the same level as someone who specializes in that particular field, therefore we MUST rely on the body of research conducted by a multitude of people in the same field.
Yeah, what? What a cluster.
Nobody should trust an expert just because they are an "expert". An "expert" can tell you WHY they believe what they believe and show you evidence, the fact that all the experts think one way doesn't make it true. Consensus is meaningless. Some examples?
All the expert doctors who didn't listen to Sammelweis and had him committed and ultimately caused his death for his suggestion they were wrong. But hey, you now spread his idea like the germs he didn't even know he was fighting.
How about in the modern day, where we have spent almost 2 decades with the experts saying, "Fighting amyloid plaques will cure Alzheimers." and only now, after a huge number of failures, are they starting to let go of a hypothesis that has yet to have any success.
On the other hand, what made Newton an expert in Newtonian Physics? I mean, he was a pro, sure, but he had MUCH less to work with than you or I do and look at how much success he had in proving all the other experts wrong.
How about Einstein? Do we accept his laws of relativity just because he was an expert? Because...until he came up with those ideas I believe he was working as a patent clerk. Yes, he had schooling. No one saw him as an "expert" it seems. He became an expert based on the validity of his ideas.
Every idea we have, we didn't have at one point. Someone discovered them. They didn't get a doctorate in those ideas BEFORE they discovered them. If one person could discover an idea from nothing, you would think it is only that much easier to do it again after the initial discover.
I mean, even Feynman talks about "discovering" ideas as a child that he would later learn had been discovered a hundred years earlier and it had a name. Yes, a pre-pubescent kid was figuring things out that the best scientists in the world 100 years earlier would have called crazy. Go figure. Of course, he had "more information at his disposal than anyone before him" in the form of readily printed books and public libraries in almost every town, etc.
But since you like experts so much, and you're teaching us all about intellectualism and science - you rolled right over the statement, "The sole source of the validity of an idea is experiment." I would think you would have recognized that since you're such an intellectual. It's a quote from Feynman. Find me someone more qualified than him that says otherwise. As he will point out, experts know nothing for certain, science knows nothing for certain. The best we have is a map that guides us toward how reality works. Hell, he even said he didn't understand his own ideas.
And it is ironic that you start off your "anti-intellectualism" teachings with a statement along the lines of somehow with more information at our disposal than ever, we have become anti-intellectual - and then follow it up with, "nobody is capable of doing 'their own research" - that is pretty funny.
But your point isn't all invalid. Yes, professionals have more resources at their disposal and hopefully have dedicated their lives to the intellectual pursuit of a narrow field. Their work is very important and useful. We use it all the time on this board. How many of us search pubmed for ideas and observations and knowledge? How many times have YOU taken apart a study for flawed methodology, questionable conclusions, etc? Shouldn't you just listen to them because they are experts with degrees and more resources at their disposal than you have? Surely there is NO WAY you could do your own research and question the "experts"?
Or are you telling me you now see the error in your ways and you won't question ANY published Pubmed studies from this point forward because, "Hey, they're experts. I don't have the resources they have. I can't possibly do my own research or my own thinking."
And yes, no one can be expected to know everything - that IS intellectualism. You can always grow and learn - using a framework of intellectual thought and reasoning. You can learn from experts. You can learn from children. You can learn from the fool at the bar.
Again, like Biden and Harris should learn history before they start giving history lessons in a smug and arrogant tone, you should probably learn about intellectual thought before you try to give a lesson on it as well.
Don't get me wrong. Not saying there is no value at all in experts. If I need help, I'm going to an expert for it if I have one at my disposal. I will also question and learn from that expert and determine how much credit I give that "expert" based on a basis of reasoning. Personally, I can tell you I do this with doctors - having had a lot of experience with many doctors as my grandmother had a hard last 5-10 years of life and my dad had a stroke a few years back and my gf has a rare autoimmune disease.
I have had "expert" doctors who clearly did not know ANYTHING....when I was trying to discuss CYP450 enzymes with her to avoid drug interactions with my grandmother, she thought I was talking about receptor sites, etc. She liked to use her "expert" card a lot. She also thought it was OK to give canabinoids to a woman on warfarin. She also thought 3 years of 2-3 grams a day of Tylenol for a frail, malnourished woman was fine - and refused to give her NAC when her liver failed from it. She also thought 50 mg of Fentanyl and 25 mg oxy a day wasn't overdosing this elderly woman, even though she had glassy eyes and was incoherant....until one day she wouldn't wake up and had to go to the ER and then suddenly they had to drop the doses down.
On the other hand, I've had a lot of experts - my gf's skin doctor (involving her autoimmune disease) who love having these conversations and never play their "expert" card those people are usually the ones who clearly know more than me. I will say, "I read this" or "What about this" or "If this works like this, what about this..." and they will say, "Yeah, but here's the evidence" or "yeah, but here is why it doesn't work that way" or "You would think that, but here's the missing piece that you didn't know about."
Both of the doctors described had PhDs and many years of "experience" - both were "experts". But they are very different in how good they are.
Like someone said earlier in this thread, what do you call a doctor who finishes last in their class? Doctor.
A few pages back you said youd vote for people like dixon for ax1 as president, then you said youd even vote Woody despite him being wrong about things. In my view, you are subjectively calling him wrong because your values arent the same as his. That isnt Woody being wrong, that is you projecting your values onto someone else and using that to determine right from wrong.
You do realize that:
1. You picked out a very tongue-in-cheek post.
2. This post still doesn't help your case.
Again, being intellectual and allowing for the freedom of speech doesn't mean that you can't call someone's ideas wrong. You just can't stop them from saying them and you have to allow them the freedom to say what they believe - right or wrong. But, equally, if someone is wrong or you believe they are wrong, you have the right to say as much.
In your "example" of me stifling free speech and being "just like Twitter" you have "caught" me telling someone I disagree with that I would vote for them. This backs up your argument that I am like Twitter and "you can say whatever you like as long as I agree with it" in what way? Basically it shows that he can say what he wants, I can disagree, and I could still "vote" for him. Of course this all, obviously, very tongue in cheek because none of the people on here are running for president (yet).
Further, you should keep in mind how many times I've pointed out these discussions ARE much better with guys like you and Woody around. I've not once told you guys to stop, I've encouraged it - it leads to good discussions. I've even defended you personally on some attacks.
Telling someone they are wrong is part of free speech, and the mere suggestion that you cannot tell someone they are wrong IS stifling free speech AND anti-intellectual.
If you don't get any of this, try running it through your VCR. It sounds like it is pretty smart. (Sorry...this is uncalled for and I don't mean it, just playing with you)
Now that I think of it, my VCR taught me a lot - it must have been smart too. Most of the books I "read" in high school had great acting in them.