Eliezer_Yudkowsky comments on Argument Screens Off Authority - Less Wrong

35 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 14 December 2007 12:05AM

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Comment author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 14 December 2007 12:23:34AM 12 points [-]

Robin, that's surely true. But the human default seems to be to give too much credence to authority in cases where we can partially evaluate the arguments. Even experts exhibit herd behavior, math errors go undetected, etc. It's certainly a mistake to believe plausible verbal arguments from a nonexpert over math you can't understand. But I think you could make a good case that as a general heuristic, it is wiser to try to rely harder on argument, and less on authority, wherever you can.