[dmichulke]

> Non-economists

So who defines who's an economist?

> the most fringe and unsound theories

According to ...?

> "comprehensive" or radical world view, like Modern Monetary Theory or Austrian economics

This sounds as if being comprehensive or radical is something bad. Keep in mind the earth not being flat and orbiting the sun was both radical (at that time) and comprehensive in terms of laws governing that movement.

[mannykannot]

If we are going to invoke the history of human knowledge, we should note that historically, the idea being compared to the great revolutions in knowledge almost never measures up.

[notahacker]

Trying to comprehensively and radically replace a mainstream view by taking as the starting point the assumption that the entire mainstream profession is not only wrong but also malicious is far more often the modus operandi of the field's equivalent of homeopaths than the field's equivalent of heliocentrists...

[dmichulke]

Comprehensive and radical are not sufficient to judge any idea, no matter whether the judgment is good or bad.

I just gave a counterexample to the suggestion of GP that it's a positive indicator of bad ideas.