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steve smyth — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 02:33:16 GMT

RE scientific confusion...the article left me totally confused...we allow expert opinion to sway 85% of our decision making process...scientists are all experts...their opinon should become gospel...85% is way more than a majority...what's the problem?

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Brett, HCMC, VN — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 13:55:56 GMT

Where do I sign up to be a fish teacher? I could easily teach the whole school especially since it's such a remedial program.

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Bernice Halloway, Pittsburgh, PA — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:33:40 GMT

I'm reading that the earth will be suck into the sun eventually. Can we make some type of jet propellers to push the earth just a tad the other way?

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TheFallibleFiend, LORTON, VA — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:52:14 GMT

"we allow expert opinion to sway 85% of our decision making process"

Not quite. What the article said was this:
"US citizens are happy to defer to expertise, rating it as accounting for 85 percent of their assessment."

This is self-evaluation. Most people believe that most of their opinion is based on science even if everything they believe is stupid.

If people misunderstand what the scientists have said, or forget, or extend beyond what the scientists have said; or, if they take as experts people who are NOT experts, then they might fully believe that their opinions are based 85% on science, when that's not really true.