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This is called the Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect[0]. People believe things about stuff they don't know, even if the source is wrong about stuff they do know.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Crichton#GellMannAmnes...

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I was reading somewhere that there are evolutionary drivers behind our cognitive biases. I wonder if this is because to cooperate in social settings you have to rely on other people's expertise.

It's amazing how often people mention Gell-Mann Amnesia on Hacker News. Seems like Crichton's strategy of trying to make the term more popular by attaching a famous scientist's name to it paid off.

To be honest, I first learned about it on HackerNews a couple of years ago. Someone apparently reposted a link a few hours ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20789446

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