re: Appeal To Authority

I admit to having been influenced greatly by much of Martin Fowlers writing over the years. It’s always thought provoking at the very least but this entry on his bliki made me do a “What The?”

There is no way I (or any other software loud-mouth) has that much influence.

There is no way I can believe that he actually believes this. Clearly, people such as Martin do have that much influence. That’s why they are employed by organisations such as ThoughtWorks. That’s why they draw huge crowds at conferences. That’s why developers the world over buy their books.

So maybe we could re-phrase that sentence? Perhaps it should read:

There is no way I (or any other software loud-mouth) should have that much influence.

But the fact remains that he (and other software loud-mouths) do and as a consequence lots of people will blindly do exactly what they say. The operative word here being blindly.

He is quite right though. People are selective when appealing to authority and people as a whole should take more responsibility for their own thinking.