> This is a great article. It's why I roll my eyes when someone asks "Show me the data" or the classic "Sources please."

That doesn't follow. Yes, there are going to be multiple interpretations of the data, however the data must exist otherwise you're just pulling claims out of thin air.

Being asked to provide the data is just an easy filter for people who just say things, who only have the narrative, like "the earth is a flat disc" - okay, show me some experimental data that would show this to be true.

But people have data. A lot of empirical data from their own lives. When something resonates with someone, it just means it fits the data they collected in their brains.

Most people aren't stupid. If they sound stupid, it's often because they have not heard a better narrative which fits their data.

Our society completely disregards the wisdom of old age. We probably meet hundreds of thousands of people in our lives. We collect both quantitative and qualitative data. That's statistically significant.