Specialists or domain experts are the least trustable sources, more so if they are academics. 

Why? Because, to become a specialist today, you have to 

a) find an obscure niche worth being an expert in, to, then, 

b) to inoculate yourself and your mind from reality to be able to sustain and entertain your expertise. 

The problem is that such kind of inoculation from reality blinds you to the fact that your idea could never withstand the test of reality. 

Your expertise is, contrary to common sense, a tree with a well developed crown (you academic credentials) but shallow roots (grounding in real life experiences).