Dr. Steven Novella

We know what's rule number one of science communication.

Expert opinion is the lowest form of evidence.

Yeah, well, or you don't substitute your own opinion for true experts.

It's sub-expert opinion.

Right, right.

So and you have to understand what where the expert opinion is coming from.

If if this is a transparent process of reviewing evidence, et cetera, and saying this is what the evidence shows, you know, and we all agree that this is what the evidence shows.

That's actually pretty solid.

Right.

If there's a good consensus like that.

If you say, yeah, I reject that.

I want to believe this other thing because I think I know better than all those people who have dedicated their lives studying this.

That takes a massive amount of arrogance.

And that's where you go astray, right?

When you don't, again, you don't ask the question, you know, and one thing I always try to do as a science communicator is when I, you know, personally, I don't speak about a topic until I feel I wrapped my head around it and I've checked with experts, right?

In some way, either in person or published opinion, if that's easily available or whatever, right?

At some point, I make sure that what I'm thinking is aligning with the experts.

And if it isn't, I better find out why.

And I assume this is the other thing.

See, when the arrogant person like RFK Jr., when his opinion is different from expert opinion, he concludes, I'm right and they're part of a conspiracy.