[studentrob]

Are you in a debate club or something? I'm surprised this discussion has continued so long. This is one of the longer discussions I've ever had online. I'm impressed. If you're not already into debating, I'd recommend checking it out, you'd be great!

> But having fooled me doesn't somehow vindicate the expert

I never said it would vindicate anyone. I just said people make decisions based on their interpretation of facts, or their perception of reality. Since reality is always perceived through some lens, there is no objective reality. You are, of course, free to disagree.

The fact that interpretation and context impact our perception of facts is not a bad thing or a good thing. It's just a thing. When you're 7, and your parents tell you that skateboards are dangerous, you'll probably believe that for awhile. At age 10, you might see a friend riding a board while wearing pads. You might think that's pretty reasonable and change your mind. For those 3 years between 7-10, you stayed away because your parents kept telling you it's too dangerous. Adults aren't so different from kids. We don't have time for all these detailed messages from companies and politicians. Each news headline gets about 5 seconds of people's attention. People don't have time to read an article about every topic.