It sounds as if you expect me to disagree with that, but I’ve no idea why.
(Did you think I was claiming that the people Motl is criticizing were making that claim but not misusing their scientific credentials? I wasn’t, and in fact my opinion is almost exactly the opposite: they weren’t making quite that claim—see below—but what they did say still amounts to misusing their scientific credentials.)
I agree that at one point in Motl’s post he argues that the scientists he’s disagreeing with have misused their scientific credentials. But most of his post (including the bit quoted by VoR above) is not making any such argument, it’s just saying how he thinks their political position is wrong.
To expand on my parenthesis above: The open letter Motl is objecting to doesn’t quite say “being a scientist makes me an authority”, though it certainly leans in that direction. Its opening section says (I paraphrase): “We are scientists. We ought to be good at thinking clearly”. It doesn’t take the extra step and say that they are good at thinking clearly, still less that whatever they say must be right.
It sounds as if you expect me to disagree with that, but I’ve no idea why.
(Did you think I was claiming that the people Motl is criticizing were making that claim but not misusing their scientific credentials? I wasn’t, and in fact my opinion is almost exactly the opposite: they weren’t making quite that claim—see below—but what they did say still amounts to misusing their scientific credentials.)
I agree that at one point in Motl’s post he argues that the scientists he’s disagreeing with have misused their scientific credentials. But most of his post (including the bit quoted by VoR above) is not making any such argument, it’s just saying how he thinks their political position is wrong.
To expand on my parenthesis above: The open letter Motl is objecting to doesn’t quite say “being a scientist makes me an authority”, though it certainly leans in that direction. Its opening section says (I paraphrase): “We are scientists. We ought to be good at thinking clearly”. It doesn’t take the extra step and say that they are good at thinking clearly, still less that whatever they say must be right.