...that the great discoveries of modern science are no longer accessible to the average citizen, even the most educated and well-informed. Not only is the specialized training required to understand things like the Higgs, String Theory, Dark Matter and so on, beyond the reach of all but a few of us, even among the scientifically educated these discoveries are opaque. I have degrees in physical science and mathematics and I only have a Sunday-supplement understanding of these topics. They are as much a mystery to me as to anyone else.

In a way, this is good. It suggests that science is making real progress, that it is moving closer to answering the questions that really matter. But the problem remains, what good will those answers be if only a tiny handful of us can understand them?

There was a time when any educated man could read Newton or Darwin, Marx or Freud, and gain an insight into the mind of god. Today we must face the fact that for most of us, the truth will be hidden from us, no matter how well-rounded and aware we are. Not only are we incapable of understanding what the specialists tell us, we are totally unqualified to challenge them critically or philosophically.
What if the physicists are totally wrong about the Higgs? Only the physicists are now allowed to say so. A thinking and concerned mind, even a prepared one, is still allowed to conjecture and discuss some topics, but whole fields of intellectual inquiry are being barred from more and people.

Bowser is right. He has failed to get the "certificate of authenticity".