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Comment by GeoAtreides | Hacker News Reader

As a general rule, I do listen to experts in fields in which I myself am not an expert. This rule is extremely useful, for example I am in good health thanks to listening to doctors; I also save so much time by trusting the civil engineers who built the bridges or tunnels I pass, instead of doing my own calculations, or trusting the aviation engineers who designed the planes I sometimes fly.

I think I would be unable to function in the modern society if I wouldn't trust experts (in their fields).

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I think experts are given credence because they can do a deep analysis. I expect a civil engineer to do calculations instead of just saying "I'm the expert trust me"

Is this whole trust the expert thing some new phenomenon? Because I feel confident scientists were very keen to provide the reason and evidence for their beliefs. Saying someone should be trusted just because they are an expert seems against the spirit of science

So is there reasons to believe in man made global warming? Is there is lots of reliable evidence. We should focus in that instead of who is making the claims.

You and the parent are making different versions of a similar fallacy - his is ad hominem and yours is appeal to authority. The flaw in both is they focus on the identity of the speaker rather than evaluating the validity of what is said

When I say that we should trust the experts/scientists, I don't mean trust or belief in the same you would trust a priest or a guru or your parents when you're little. Experts should be trusted in their fields because other experts in those fields trust them, and they trust them because they published and they studied and they prove they understand their field.

It's not appeal to authority when I go to Einstein and ask about quantum mechanics and then reference his answer that light manifest a wave-particle duality; he is after all an worldwide recognised expert in quantum mechanics. But! If I were to ask him about whether abortion and then say: Abortion is so and so because Einstein says it's so and so and he's worldwide recognised expert -- that is appeal to authority.

I think it is an appeal to authority. Consider this, imagine Eisntein had some new idea about physics, he couldn't just say trust me because I'm Einstein. He has to write out his reasons and proof and his words will be judged on their merits and not on his identity or expertise

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