At least in software, there’s a problem I see where young engineers are often overly bought-in to hype trains, but older engineers (on average) stick with technologies they know too much.
I would imagine something similar in academia, where hot new theories are over-valued by the young, but older academics have the problem you describe.
That consideration—and the more basic consideration that more junior people often just know less—definitely pushes in the opposite direction. If you wanted to try some version of seniority-weighted epistemic deference, my guess is that the most reliable cohort would have studied a given topic for at least a few years but less than a couple decades.
At least in software, there’s a problem I see where young engineers are often overly bought-in to hype trains, but older engineers (on average) stick with technologies they know too much.
I would imagine something similar in academia, where hot new theories are over-valued by the young, but older academics have the problem you describe.
Good point!
That consideration—and the more basic consideration that more junior people often just know less—definitely pushes in the opposite direction. If you wanted to try some version of seniority-weighted epistemic deference, my guess is that the most reliable cohort would have studied a given topic for at least a few years but less than a couple decades.