“Epistemic trespassing”: Why brilliant people can say idiotic things
alfa27 / kegfire / Adobe Stock / Big Think Not all knowledge carries over. by Jonny Thomson Key Takeaways Linus Pauling was one of the world’s greatest chemists. He won two Nobel Prizes and was a pioneer in both quantum chemistry and molecular biology. But in later years, Pauling started to talk about medicine. In his advocacy of “mega-vitamin” therapies, Pauling argued that mega-doses of vitamin C could treat diseases such as cancer and cure ailments like the common cold. There is no reputable evidence to support this. The medical establishment did and does dismiss these claims as utterly unfounded, unproven, and … Continue reading “Epistemic trespassing”: Why brilliant people can say idiotic things

