but no one claimed otherwise
I do believe MattG claimed otherwise. At least that was the most straightforward reading of what he said.
in order for science to advance each scientist's work needs to be based in, or at least aware of, the work of their predecessors.
That is true, the scientists do trust what's considered "solved", but that trust is conditional. One little ugly fact can blow up a lot of consensus sky-high.
I think one of the core issues here is resistance to cargo cult science. Consensus is dangerous because it is enables cargo cults, but the sceptical "show me" attitude is invaluable here.
more explicitly and carefully rational about #2 would help science to advance more effectively
What do you mean by "carefully rational"? How is that better than the baseline "show me"?
I do believe MattG claimed otherwise.
I think you can only reach that conclusion by applying your preferred definition of "science" to MattG's statement about science. That's a mistake unless you know he's not using a substantially different definition.
that trust is conditional
Yes, of course. (Did anyone suggest it's not?)
For the avoidance of doubt, I am not for a minute suggesting blind or unquestioning trust of scientific consensus; at least, not for scientists. (It is possible that below some threshold of scientific competence blind trus...
Cross-posted from my blog here.
One of the greatest successes of mankind over the last few centuries has been the enormous amount of wealth that has been created. Once upon a time virtually everyone lived in grinding poverty; now, thanks to the forces of science, capitalism and total factor productivity, we produce enough to support a much larger population at a much higher standard of living.
EAs being a highly intellectual lot, our preferred form of ritual celebration is charts. The ordained chart for celebrating this triumph of our people is the Declining Share of People Living in Extreme Poverty Chart.
(Source)
However, as a heretic, I think this chart is a mistake. What is so great about reducing the share? We could achieve that by killing all the poor people, but that would not be a good thing! Life is good, and poverty is not death; it is simply better for it to be rich.
As such, I think this is a much better chart. Here we show the world population. Those in extreme poverty are in purple – not red, for their existence is not bad. Those who the wheels of progress have lifted into wealth unbeknownst to our ancestors, on the other hand, are depicted in blue, rising triumphantly.
Long may their rise continue.