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* Get the necessary background education to understand the subject
* Read what they are saying
* Determine the reasons for whether or not it is wholly, partially, or not at all logically and factually consistent
What you probably shouldn't do is shrug your shoulders, and cite a platitude like "Well, experts have been wrong before! I have no idea who we can trust!"
For heavily technical topics, unfortunately, this does require getting tens of thousands of hours of practice in the relevant field, so I can see why it may be less appealing than the lazy alternative.
"You should do your own research" is fine when we're talking about the fall of Rome or aliens in space. It is dismissive and arrogant to say it when it comes to things like COVID or airline safety - areas where we must trust experts.
Shrugging your shoulders at experts who lie about those sorts of topics is a reasonable thing to do because those experts often use their position to further their own agenda, like government officials did during the pandemic or in this case like the Egyptians likely did in the 804 case.
If you are truly intelligent then your job is to hold other experts accountable to a high ethical standard in order to earn people's trust – not to look down your nose at people.
Depends on the topic. If its about, say, policy, then yes, you absolutely can and should. Certainly being informed is important, and expertise lends some additional credibility to your POV, but 'trust the experts' is no panacea.
If we're talking about load bearing structures in the construction of a bridge, you're right! If we're talking about spending tax dollars on the construction of said bridge, you don't need to be an urban planner or a structural engineer to have a legitimate and worthy opinion.
> "You should do your own research" is fine when we're talking about the fall of Rome or aliens in space. It is dismissive and arrogant to say it when it comes to things like COVID or airline safety - areas where we must trust experts.
On a tangent ... why are the fall of Rome or intelligent extraterrestrial life less in need of expert input than plane crashes or Covid?
IMHO history and the fall of Rome in particular seem among the most valuable topics today!