

Two technologies which are bad for you - pyotrgalois
https://medium.com/@jlouis666/two-technologies-which-are-bad-for-you-160311ad6b24

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rnovak
The problem with articles like this is that there is absolutely no call to
authority. If I posted some long rant abasing something brilliant, you should
have absolutely no reason to believe me should I not provide you with a
reason.

What if you, as the author are just a freshman in College, what reason should
I have to actually listen to what you have to say?

I used to think that credentials were useless, and still agree that you should
never agree with someone because of their creds (proof by intimidation), but
lets face it, it should get you in the door. If you've never done anything
worth while, I'm not going to waste my time reading/listening/entertaining
your rants.

~~~
lutusp
> The problem with articles like this is that there is absolutely no call to
> authority.

But authority doesn't count in the realm of ideas -- the ideas must stand on
their own.

> If I posted some long rant abasing something brilliant, you should have
> absolutely no reason to believe me should I not provide you with a reason.

Wait -- which is it? Authority, or reason? Those aren't the same thing.

> What if you, as the author are just a freshman in College, what reason
> should I have to actually listen to what you have to say?

That depends. Does he defend his ideas with reason, or authority?

> I used to think that credentials were useless, and still agree that you
> should never agree with someone because of their creds (proof by
> intimidation), but lets face it, it should get you in the door.

Not in science, not in the age of reason. Einstein wasn't published in 1905
because of his authority -- he had none. His ideas spoke for themselves.

In science, authority is explicitly rejected -- it's even recognized as a
logical error:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_authority](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_authority)

"Science is the organized skepticism in the reliability of expert opinion." —
Richard Feynman

