No statement should be believed because it is made by an authority. – Robert A. Heinlein
My experience teaching reminded me how much is believed because someone with certain credentials said it. Those credentials can be in the form of degrees, publications, movies, or sports. All seem to carry similar weight nowadays. Because of this, many of us think we know far more than we do. I ran across an article about a study done to ask that question. A list of words were given and the participant rated what they knew of the topic. Then a quiz was given on the topics. I will post that when I find it again.
Many have made observations regarding this.
Science … looks skeptically at all claims to knowledge, old and new. It teaches not blind obedience to those in authority but to vigorous debate, and in many respects that’s the secret of its success. – Carl Sagan
Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth. – Albert Einstein
And the list goes on of those who are held in high esteem and then who caution us not to take their word for it. If we look at the lives of these great thinkers, we see they value questions above answers. One of my favorites is Richard Feynman. From what I understand, he received much criticism for this comment.
“Science is the Belief in the Ignorance of the Experts”. He meant, and explained that “science – a.k.a. research – is in the making, belongs to the (unknown, yet to be discovered) future, while expertise is based on the past, with in-built obsolescence”. — Richard Feynman