Good Ole Charlie,
“Got a question for Comrade Lazar:”
Generally I don’t respond to communists, but seeing as you asked so politely.
Ye-es?
“What are your scientific credentials, if any?”
None of your business.
“Your analysis seems to consist of the classic “Appeal to Authority””
No silly, I’m suggesting your fellow-travellers check their sources. That causes your fellow-travellers a great deal of distress, and it shouldn’t, if they’re genuine skeptics, if they care about science, about truth. I’m even suggesting, if they can’t hack the peer-reviewed stuff, they at least check the popularizations, or read books so they can understand.
“Do you have the knowledge to read scientific literature, whether referred or popular, and pronounce upon it?”
Some of it.
“Do you have a set of specific workers, generally recognized as plausible (not authoritative) that you depend upon?”
I don’t understand the question, could you rephrase?
“What are your standards for accepting one authority or view point over others?”
It depends how much I’ve read and understood.
If more, then the arguments and evidence which are most plausible.
If less, then I defer to the consensus opinion(s) of those scientists doing active research in the field, on the question at hand.
