If they had degrees I would have to assume they probably, sometime in the past, have passed an exam (which is not a good evidence of competence either, but at least is something).

I count only 1 out of 11 SIAI researcher not having a degree. (Paul Christiano's bio hasn't been updated yet, but he told me he just graduated from MIT). Click these links if you want to check for yourself.

• http://singinst.org/research/residentfaculty
• http://singinst.org/aboutus/researchassociates

If you want to change my view, you better actually link some posts that are evidence for them knowing something instead of calling what i say a 'rant'.

I no longer have much hope of changing your views, but rather want to encourage you to make some positive contributions (like your belief propagation graph idea) despite having views that I consider to be wrong. (I can't resist pointing out some of the more blatant errors though, like the above.)