As modern academic and scientific systems of knowledge communicate less directly with us, their social influence is diminishing.
More Specifics
Dissemination of knowledge to society is now performed mainly by the media.
Media-style "authority" has more to do with popular acceptance than with proof.
Presentation skills and salesmanship may trump literal knowledge even in academia.
Making an idea's authority coequal to popular acceptance is an invitation down the path back to more primitive belief systems.
(c) COPYRIGHT 1998 ROBERT WINTER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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