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What do you believe? How do you know? 

• Is humanity responsible for climate change or are you a skeptic?
• Do vaccinations cause autism?
• Will cutting taxes juice the economy and thus raise more revenue for the government?
• Do diet sodas really make you fatter?
• Is the earth flat like a table top or round like a globe and why do you think so?
• Were the Apollo missions a hoax?
• Are “organic” foods worth the money?
• Is it dangerous to eat GMO foods?

To be a human being is to have an interesting relationship with the outside world. You might think that “seeing is believing” but even with simply seeing things aren’t so simple.

You may or may not know that each of you has a blind spot. Here’s how you can “see” yours by not seeing the plus sign. If you simply close one eye you don’t see a hole in your vision because your brain interprets what you see and fills it in for you even at the risk of being wrong. You may not consciously know you’re doing it, but you are.

With a number of the issues in the above list people may find opposition to their views on these things a matter of amusement, annoyance or anger sufficient to provoke violence. We all hold ideas about them and believe in our ideas to one degree of conviction or another. How people believe in these things changes society and in fact changes the world. Consider the promotion of radio active ingredients sold to as health products.

We look at this and say “how nuts” but how does the practice of food irradiation sound to you and why would the FDA try to educate us about it? Do you trust them? Does how you feel about who the president is impact whether or not you trust them?

You might say “well I understand the scientific difference between drinking radioactive water vs. food irradiation.” Didn’t this man a man of science who understood DDT? His audience, however remained unconvinced. Who now seems the wiser?

My purpose is not to throw you down a hole of skepticism but to draw attention to how complicated this business of knowing really is.

Objective, Subjective and Inter-subjective Continue reading →