Comment by yostrovs

Perhaps it's time to realize that scientists in some fields are not able to use their science for predicting purposes, unlike scientists in other fields. And therefore we should reconsider the use of words like "expert" to differentiate people's qualifications. As an example, I had a postdoc who works with viruses tell me, at the start of the pandemic, that masks don't make any difference. I laughed it off and went to wear a mask before it was recommended to the public. And yet I was right, in a sense, that they do offer some benefit. And he was just wrong. And yet he was an "expert" in this field. But was he or is his science not effective at giving him the powers to predict?