the age of the Universe

[Greg H.]

So in other words, you put faith in their opinions as being correct? I think you are confusing blind faith (the type many religious folks use) with regular ol' faith (the type I place in my doctor when I ask him if I'm dying or not).

 

I wouldn't call it faith. I have confidence that they know what their talking about - at least, until something proves them wrong. I base that confidence on their experience and expertise in their chosen field. Faith has become one of those imprecise muddy words that we English speakers like to use when we really mean something else. To me faith has connotations of trust (or belief) without evidence, or any real reason to support it. I don't have faith in my doctor, I have confidence he knows what he's talking about because he's been trained to be a doctor, and he's been my physician for ten years.

 

This is not a fair comparison, because the auto mechanic is not presenting himself in a position to give advice on neurosurgery, nor vice versa. A better comparison would be to take an auto mechanic, put him in a doctor's white coat, and send him around the around the ward. I bet you 90% of people wouldn't be able to tell the difference (especially if you gave him an hour or training before hand).

 

Perhaps it's not a fair comparison at that, but I have a hard time understanding why people refuse to learn enough about a subject to make an informed opinion, rather than having their opinions force fed to them. Is that a societal issue?