hard vs soft evidence; appeal to authority, etc.

[John Denker <jsd@AV8N.COM>]

Hi --

I have re-thought, revised, expanded, and re-organized my
note about the proper and improper uses of appeal to
authority, credentials, et cetera.

I understand it now in terms of separate scales for hard
evidence and soft evidence.  Soft evidence is not useless,
if it's all you've got, but hard evidence always outweighs
soft evidence.

Thanks to Tim Folkerts and other members of this group for
helping me think more clearly about all this.

  http://www.av8n.com/physics/authority.htm