One problem is that expertise is itself determined by authority.
I think it might be enlightening to contemplate the Ptolmaic System of celestial mechanics. As far as predicting the movements of the classical planets, it could be made absolutely correct (at least within the observational capacities of the ancient world). It is in effect Fourier analysis applied to the motions of the planets, although worked out geometrically rather than algebraically. The Naval Observatory used this method a few decades ago to prepare ephemerides; they told me they thought it was accurate within a few seconds of arc forward and backward for several hundred years. The Ptolmaic System also satisfied certain requirements which we no longer believe are critical, such as movement in circles, but which were formerly thought absolutely necessary for various reasons. It was a monumental intellectual achievement, one of the greatest, and every authority subscribed to it for many centuries – and yet by our lights, it was completely ‘wrong’, a blind alley. The controversy between it and the Copernican System famously spilled over into philosophy, religion and politics. Now, from our point of view Galileo was the hero, but in his own day he was an unruly rebel, and most unruly rebels were and are cranks, hobby-horse riders, con men, or trolls. We like them only at a great distance, after history as done the work of sifting them.
I don’t have a nifty solution for the problem. But – ‘Eppur si muove’ as the man said.
