...not all people, and not even all smart people, devote much time to examining evidence and making sure that conclusions are supported by evidence.
I'm extremely guilty of this, and it bothers me. But what bothers me more is knowing how much time and effort would be required from me to be capable of making evidence-backed claims about everything I'm interested in. You make time for what's important to you, and the truth is definitely important to me, but so is family, building my django skills, learning Scheme, reading GEB, considering ideas for a possible startups... The choice then is what/who to trust, the majority of scientists? The smartest ones (identified how?)? My own perceptions and ideas? The government-backed scientists?
Sceince suffers because people don't have time for it, and because they can't necessarily trust those who do.
I'm extremely guilty of this, and it bothers me. But what bothers me more is knowing how much time and effort would be required from me to be capable of making evidence-backed claims about everything I'm interested in. You make time for what's important to you, and the truth is definitely important to me, but so is family, building my django skills, learning Scheme, reading GEB, considering ideas for a possible startups... The choice then is what/who to trust, the majority of scientists? The smartest ones (identified how?)? My own perceptions and ideas? The government-backed scientists?
Sceince suffers because people don't have time for it, and because they can't necessarily trust those who do.