@brendan If there were only some kind of institution whose judgments would carry social weight. His claims *can* be countered! But Person A is persuaded, Person B missed or doesn't understand the counter, Person C thinks the counter itself is based on false claims, Person D just trusts Elon. With more argument, all the Persons minds can flip. But without anything to represent a tentative consensus, at any time, who knows who won the argument?