[bluecalm]

There is value in knowing what experts say. I and 99% of people in IT will never be in position to evaluate if quantum computing is feasible or not. The only thing we can do is try to evaluate expert's credibility and pick a side so to speak.

The same goes for health advice but this time it's 99.9%+ - if you're not in the field you can just listen and hope you are good at estimating who is more credible or likely to do better research or more truthful claims. Trying to evaluate them yourself is a recipe for being wrong and creating your own bubble.

If the article says: random guy X says quantum computing is a scam because Y there is nothing I can take away from it because it's very easy to make Y both incorrect and plausible sounding to me. If I know it's Oxford physics professor who makes the claim I can learn that Y is at least serious enough reason to not be easily dismissed.

Appeal to authority is bad as an argument when people knowledgeable in the field try to debate a certain point. In other cases it's very useful to know who makes the claims and very often it's the only thing that gives the claims credibility.