It's who you are, not what you know

Writing in the New York Times opinion page law Professor Cass Sunstein had this to say

Here, then, is a lesson for all those who provide information. What matters most may be not what is said, but who, exactly, is saying it.

He was summing up his review of the effect of "biased assimilation" - the fact that people give more weight to information that matches up with their initial beliefs. Big implications for SDM approaches to structuring science for decision support, I think.

Hat tip to Paul Barret on the SDMCOP list for this link.