square root of 2,
“I do think there seems to be a hashkafic side to whether or not scientists can be believed, as is evident from the subsequent posts.”
I think the issue is not so much whether to believe scientists within context of their field, but how much weight to give to “their” opinions outside of their field. I think most of the rage on the right against climate science has nothing to do with climate science per se, but with political and economic policy. Much of the anger towards Hawking, likewise, was due to his athiestic pronouncements and stances on Israel where his knowledge and intelligence was no better than the next guy’s, not his research on black holes.