I think that quite reasonably, many just trust what someone told them — eg, of your answers:
- trust someone’s photo/video
- trust someone’s map
- trust someone’s narrative in a video
- “everyone else is just wrong!”
- trust someone’s narrative about long ago
I think it’s fascinating that your examples to drive home how ridiculous you find the question were all about how we just need to trust authorities. (Including you!)
There’s nothing wrong with trusting people; I’m just pointing out that most people believe the Earth is round because they trust an authority, and not because they did any of the physical examples in your first paragraph personally. Or understand the logic of why that’s an example.
> we just need to trust authorities. (Including you!)
That's not actually what I'm saying at all. They're not putting 100% trust in one authority. They're putting a very small amount of trust in millions of others. It's nonsense to say that someone who has never independently replicated Eratosthenes's test doesn't really know the world is round. That's absolute nonsense. Of course they do. The individual tiny pieces of evidence -- yes, including maps and videos and pictures -- form a complete whole that can only be explained by a round Earth. The probability that millions of people are conspiring to deceive them is much much lower than the probability that we're all simulated brains in a twisted alien experiment, or other such crazy hypotheticals. Humans are capable of piecing together reality from millions of data points without needing a White Man In A Lab Coat to tell them. It is not irrational for someone to believe the Earth is round without being able to devise an experiment to prove it. These people are being logical in believing that, and walking around with your upturned nose telling them they're stupid because they can't "justify" their beliefs is not helping scientific literacy in the world.
Humans routinely believe wrong things, collectively, without it being a collective conspiracy to trick you.
The false dichotomy you present (“they’re right or they’re lying!”) isn’t reflected in the real world — and it’s worth knowing that you’re depending on trust in authorities rather than direct evidence.
> It is not irrational for someone to believe the Earth is round without being able to devise an experiment to prove it.
And I never said it was: just that it’s something you believe based on trust in authorities, not because you can (personally) justify the belief.
> These people are being logical in believing that, and walking around with your upturned nose telling them they're stupid because they can't "justify" their beliefs is not helping scientific literacy in the world.
Pretending that belief in authorities without being able to explain the proof is the same as scientific literacy is what’s actually harming scientific literacy — and it’s a confusion many people of average capability engage in.
- trust someone’s photo/video
- trust someone’s map
- trust someone’s narrative in a video
- “everyone else is just wrong!”
- trust someone’s narrative about long ago
I think it’s fascinating that your examples to drive home how ridiculous you find the question were all about how we just need to trust authorities. (Including you!)
There’s nothing wrong with trusting people; I’m just pointing out that most people believe the Earth is round because they trust an authority, and not because they did any of the physical examples in your first paragraph personally. Or understand the logic of why that’s an example.