You would think so, but I don’t think that’s true. Think about the legions of cranks trying to create perpetual motion machines, or settle the P/NP question, etc. etc. Thermodynamics is fairly settled, the difficulty of the P/NP question is fairly settled. Crankery is an easy attractor, apparently.
Note: I am not calling anyone in this thread a crank, merely responding to the general point that argument is evidence of an unsettled area. It’s true, but the evidence is surprisingly weak.
No, I meant that if someone gets settled stuff wrong, that’s usually due to sloppiness, and said sloppiness is an utter horror in any less settled area. It’s like repeatedly falling off bicycle head first with the training wheels on. Without training wheels its only worse.
Arguing with experts on settled issue is a symptom of sloppiness which would be particularly prominent in non-settled issues, though.
You would think so, but I don’t think that’s true. Think about the legions of cranks trying to create perpetual motion machines, or settle the P/NP question, etc. etc. Thermodynamics is fairly settled, the difficulty of the P/NP question is fairly settled. Crankery is an easy attractor, apparently.
Note: I am not calling anyone in this thread a crank, merely responding to the general point that argument is evidence of an unsettled area. It’s true, but the evidence is surprisingly weak.
No, I meant that if someone gets settled stuff wrong, that’s usually due to sloppiness, and said sloppiness is an utter horror in any less settled area. It’s like repeatedly falling off bicycle head first with the training wheels on. Without training wheels its only worse.