Yes, this is the crux of the difference between the two scenarios. We accept many things from authority figures at face value, but they fall into two categories, testable and untestable, and we can easily figure out which is which.
I’m not sure those categories are as meaningful as you think. How many scientific findings are you capable of verifying personally, right now? And believing you’re capable of verifying them, “in principle,” is quite different altogether...
Yes, this is the crux of the difference between the two scenarios. We accept many things from authority figures at face value, but they fall into two categories, testable and untestable, and we can easily figure out which is which.
I’m not sure those categories are as meaningful as you think. How many scientific findings are you capable of verifying personally, right now? And believing you’re capable of verifying them, “in principle,” is quite different altogether...