You have to be careful that you don’t go from “the majority is right in most cases” to “the majority is right in this case” without good reason. Prior to any information about this case, sure, it’s a good guide. But if you have reason to believe that this case isn’t a trivial inference from overwhelming direct observational evidence, then the majority is much less of a guide. When it comes to a socially-accepted conclusion, a severe dearth of evidence, and motivations to hold a certain point of view, 70-90% - the majority—get it wrong.
On the phrase “since when has the majority ever been right about anything?”: on most points of difference, the majority has been wrong first and right only later. It is easy to look at only the points of difference: when it comes to points of similarity, you are part of the majority, and so you’re not really interested in knocking them down. Perhaps a better formulation would be “since when has the majority ever been right about anything that isn’t simultaneously important and obvious ?”
The problem with saying
of the infinite class of propositions the majority holds, most are right
is that most are boring. On the class of interesting propositions, the majority does not have a good track record.
You have to be careful that you don’t go from “the majority is right in most cases” to “the majority is right in this case” without good reason. Prior to any information about this case, sure, it’s a good guide. But if you have reason to believe that this case isn’t a trivial inference from overwhelming direct observational evidence, then the majority is much less of a guide. When it comes to a socially-accepted conclusion, a severe dearth of evidence, and motivations to hold a certain point of view, 70-90% - the majority—get it wrong.
On the phrase “since when has the majority ever been right about anything?”: on most points of difference, the majority has been wrong first and right only later. It is easy to look at only the points of difference: when it comes to points of similarity, you are part of the majority, and so you’re not really interested in knocking them down. Perhaps a better formulation would be “since when has the majority ever been right about anything that isn’t simultaneously important and obvious ?”
The problem with saying
is that most are boring. On the class of interesting propositions, the majority does not have a good track record.