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When is skepticism wrong?
by FourCorners

As is often the case, the question is where to draw the line.

Is the earth round, or is it flat after all? Does the earth orbit the sun, or is it immobile after all? Do species evolve through mechanisms such as natural selection and genetic drift, or were they all created through the direct agency of a supernatural person? Is "space-time" real, or are space and time fundamentally different after all? Can matter and energy be transformed into one another, or are they fundamentally different after all?

When are these questions settled, and when is skepticism still in order? It may be that anthropogenic climate change is established beyond a reasonable doubt much as the questions above seem to be, but even so what is to be done is still very much in play.

I wish there were a way to decide beyond a reasonable doubt when doubt is no longer reasonable. Ultimately it seems to rest on informed consensus, until it doesn't.

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