Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

Mark Spahn sent a link to this interesting blog post. I've heard it said that just because certain climate researchers cheated, it doesn't mean the globe isn't warming. That's true, but it misses the point. The point is that ordinary people (i.e., nonscientists such as me) have to rely on experts for their beliefs. If the experts can't be trusted, then the case for global warming collapses. It's rational in such a case for ordinary people to suspend or withhold belief. This is why the scandal is so damaging to science. Scientists are experts, and their cognitive authority (no scientist, as such, has moral authority) derives from that expertise. The rest of us defer to them on matters within their expertise. If the "experts" are cheating, as we now know many of them were, then the case for relying on them collapses. They have forfeited their authority. Keith's Law: Authoritativeness is inversely proportional to partisanship.