Some people may think that it's ironic that I'm posting this, but whatever, I'm posting it anyhow. - Scoble, Alex Scoble

It's really not as bad as all that. It's really more the death of the credentials of expertise. You can't just intimidate people with your diplomas or certifications or job titles or your privileged position in society any more. You actually have to earn people's trust the old fashioned way. - Victor Ganata

Recognizing that science and logic have limits != death of Western Civilization. People really need to get over that. - Victor Ganata

Yes, which is really inefficient. The author isn't talking about intimidation, he's talking about the notion that if we really want to be involved in a conversation, we have to understand how to have a conversation and be able to talk intelligently about the topic at hand. He's saying if you can't do those things, you probably shouldn't make opinions about something. - Scoble, Alex Scoble

And as he said, it's not a good thing at all that people listen to someone like Jenny McCarthy over the experts on vaccinations and disease. - Scoble, Alex Scoble

I just realized how ironic it is that we are discussing this, LOL. - Scoble, Alex Scoble

It comes down to trust, though. If I don't think you know what the hell you're talking about, it really doesn't matter if you have a bunch of letters after your name or a piece of paper on your wall. I mean, yeah, anti-vaxxers have caused documentable harm, but, realistically, there's probably *nothing* that will convince them, expertise or no. No, this article is more about freaking out about the loss of privilege. - Victor Ganata

It's more like complaining about the transfer of privilege from the intellectuals to the popular. - Scoble, Alex Scoble

I really felt for the section of this that talked about the continuous revisiting of first-principles in debate because new people come in and make a lot of noise and they know nothing about the topic. So the debate goes around and around on the same basic crap because people can't be bothered to come up to speed. - Andy Bakun

There's also good faith, though. I mean, it doesn't take *that* long to figure out who really has an interest in learning something versus people who are just trolling. This is a brave new interconnected world with shifting privileges that we're living in, and there's no use crying over what was. - Victor Ganata

I agree, Andy. Anyhow, Victor, I posted this because I thought it was interesting and does highlight many of the problems of the democratization of discourse that the internet has brought, but it doesn't mean that it's totally right either. - Scoble, Alex Scoble

I also found it interesting because I am "guilty" of what the author charges. I don't care what someone's credentials are, or how many followers they have, or whatever. If I think they've said something wrong, I'll say so. I've also jumped all over people who've said things that are obviously stupid. - Scoble, Alex Scoble

It's a tiresome argument in itself, to be honest. You hear it all the time from old school docs who fret about not being able to force patients to do what the old school docs think is best. Well, those days are gone, we have to live in the present, not mourn the past the will never be again. - Victor Ganata

Except that humans are practically bred to mourn, heh. - Scoble, Alex Scoble

Well, no one likes losing their privileges, especially when they think they've earned them. That's definitely human nature. - Victor Ganata

It almost feels like this guy is railing against skepticism. Which is kind of ironic since skepticism is one of the core principles of science. - Victor Ganata

Yes, but he's railing against a lot of things. - Scoble, Alex Scoble

I mean, even experts succumb to the bike shed trap. I just think that anything we can do to prevent people from falling for fallacious crap like the whole anti-vaccine thing is a good thing. I agree with you though, that he doesn't have an answer for that. Then again, neither do I. - Scoble, Alex Scoble