Appeal to authority is ultimately based on power or position.
Expertise is not authority. It does rely on trust. And it isn't a blanket certification --- just because someone is an expert does not mean that they are never wrong (and I've indicated elsewhere in this thread some areas in which I disagree). However it does suggest that a casual dismissal based on lack of qualification, as was the case in this specific thread, wants for evidence itself.
That is, the value of expertise (root word, experience) is a deep familiarity, knowledge, understanding, and trustworthiness in a specific field. One trusts an expert computer programmer, an expert doctor, an expert engineer, an expert pilot, an expert lawyer.
Or, in this, case, an expert environmental scientist.
I'd mentioned his credentials not as a blanket dismissal of some specific argument against the piece, or an element of it, but that the piece as a whole is "pointless". Smil's experience, knowledge, understanding, and track record strongly suggest otherwise.
If you follow lordkrandel's other comments to this thread, you may find their own experiential basis, beginning from a clear reading of the article and articulation of their own argument, is lacking.
dredmorbius|3 years ago
Expertise is not authority. It does rely on trust. And it isn't a blanket certification --- just because someone is an expert does not mean that they are never wrong (and I've indicated elsewhere in this thread some areas in which I disagree). However it does suggest that a casual dismissal based on lack of qualification, as was the case in this specific thread, wants for evidence itself.
That is, the value of expertise (root word, experience) is a deep familiarity, knowledge, understanding, and trustworthiness in a specific field. One trusts an expert computer programmer, an expert doctor, an expert engineer, an expert pilot, an expert lawyer.
Or, in this, case, an expert environmental scientist.
I'd mentioned his credentials not as a blanket dismissal of some specific argument against the piece, or an element of it, but that the piece as a whole is "pointless". Smil's experience, knowledge, understanding, and track record strongly suggest otherwise.
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Appeal_to_authority
If you follow lordkrandel's other comments to this thread, you may find their own experiential basis, beginning from a clear reading of the article and articulation of their own argument, is lacking.