On: Ancient tools thought to be made by humans were ma...

[bovermyer]

Evaluating the accuracy of _anything_ from 50,000 years ago is going to be difficult.

This is just an adjustment of working theory based on new data.

It's... not that sensational. Interesting, yes, but not sensational.

[smitty1e → bovermyer]

And yet the tendency across various fields seems to be for ideas to progress from:

hypothesis => probability => certainty

...as we arrive at "the science is settled".

Until the science is perturbed.

[bovermyer → smitty1e]

I think that might be a matter of divergence from source, though. Most people can't afford the time to debate every idea that they accept over their lifetimes.

So, if you get someone who heard something from someone they trust that heard it from someone THEY trust who is doing actual work on the subject... that's not too far removed from a primary source, so the twice-removed observer is likely to accept that fact as Good Information and move on.