A little article on
Experts vs Pseudoexperts. So relevant here.
Quote:
|
The novice can not tell the difference between experts and pseudo-experts and he is thus much more likely to follow the pseudo-experts simply because there are more of them. Since pseudo-experts do not know what they don’t know and often fashion themselves experts or at least well-informed (perhaps they follow the news?)—after all, have they not accumulated an enormous amount of information—they can appear supremely confident which makes them so much more dangerous and likely to be followed by the novice.
|
The other thing to realize, when corresponding with a scientist, is they may put their reply in layman's terms so it's easier to understand. It's not necessarily the same way they think of it.