Sometimes it is somebody who knows the engineer wielding an argument from authority...actual example from my personal experience in debating a conspiracy-based belief system outside of creationism:
"So and so, an optical engineer, agrees with me that the Apollo moon landing was a hoax..."
The person was using a laundry list of one-liners surprisingly similar to those used by some beginning creationists and that was their defense.
Misapplication of authority is one of the worst types of argument from authority. Remeber AiG's Creationist Plastic Surgeon?
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