Thanks to Randy Oliver for helpful suggestions on how to evaluate a scientific paper. It is a good reminder for those of us who have been out of school for a long time.
"Why waste time reading junk?"
1) How can I know the article or research is junk without fully reading and evaluating it first? That takes serious amounts of time and a broad and thorough understanding of the entire field of study, say entomology. Neither of which I have.
2) I am not arrogant enough to presume that I could, in my spare time, gain the same level of understanding of insect biology as someone who has completed multiple years of graduate study on that topic, earned a Ph.D., and now spends much of his/her waking life studying that very subject. In other words, a real expert.
3) To a large degree, we HAVE to trust other people's knowledge and opinions, as one person simply can't know everything about everything. Humans have made great technological advances building on the knowledge and expertise of other humans through time. But currently, as a culture, we seem to be moving away from trusting experts to our own detriment. (Vaccine refusal is a tragic, life or death example.)
4) I do give some weight to my own "sniff test" or common sense. I know many, many researchers, and with one exception, they have all been scrupulously careful, honest, and conservative in their claims and publications. None of them are in the top 10% of wage earners, so I don't think that money is their primary motivator. Besides, how many climate scientists drive BMWs vs climate change deniers? Are the experts walking the walk?
As anecdotal evidence, I can tell you that the parking lot at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), where I used to work, is filled with old Subaru's, Toyota's, and a LOT of electric vehicles, and the bike racks are usually full.
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