"Experts," shooting from the hip

Any newspaper article, or TV story, would not be complete without the obligatory quotes from "experts." All too often, we have not heard of these experts before, and we have no idea about their credentials to be experts. Usually, they are people who are shooting from the hip for a chance at personal publicity. We should take their advice with some scepticism. Today the papers are full of stories about the new Apple iPhone, with experts being quoted to "prove" it will be successful or a failure. It is clear that many of the quotes are based on little thought or evidence. Instant analysis is demanded by the media to feed their publications, and there are always people who are eager to provide it.