@cwilbur There are a handful of people whose opinions I care about and value. Beyond that, I don’t really care about what anyone else’s opinion is. In my experience, I end up with more hassle when considering other people’s opinions than if I simply trust my own judgment (which includes doing research about the topic on hand).
If the purpose of life was to go through it with the maximum efficiency (try to get the high score), I would certainly tap the knowledge and experiences of those around me. But I don’t believe this is the purpose of life, and I often learn much more from “failing” than I do by completing the task successfully, thus I have no real incentive to consider Random Joe’s opinion on Issue X.