Is This Authority Really an Expert?

The trick is to be able to recognize, without much strain or vigilance, when authority promptings are best followed and when they should be resisted. Posing two questions to ourselves can help enormously to accomplish this trick. We allow ourselves to be swayed by experts who seem to be impartial than those who have something to gain by convincing us. Even knowledgeable authorities in a field will not persuade us until we are satisfied that their messages represent the facts faithfully.