>>1587572

The earth may be extremely old.

Humanity may be not.

As far as far as the techniques and evidence, I want to laugh a bit, so I think Always Sunny explains the situation well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgk8UdV7GQ0

What it boils down to is that 99% of us don't actually "know" things. We're "told" things and then we accept them. What we actually know is very limited to our first-hand experience.

Almost none of us has researched it ourselves. Almost none of us have looked at the data. Almost none of us have actually participated in these studies and tests.

That includes all of their evidence, all of the supposed techniques they use. We really take their claims for granted that they actually work, but the problem is that there are so many gatekeepers when it comes to these things that control the flow of knowledge that even a corrupt individual present at one point in the process can severely hinder or outright stop the truth from coming out.

I'm not saying that everything is a lie, but I think we really need to consider how much we KNOW and how much we were TOLD.

>>1587775

I'm not saying you should outright deny their claims, either.

What I am saying is that you shouldn't believe them just because of who they are.

We leave it up to them to device the higher forms of mathematics.

We leave it up to them to write our science books.

We leave it up to them to do the studies, write the reports, and then verify their own claims.

At no point is the average person at all involved in the process.

The problem is that I have is that we just accept the things that we're told without actually looking into them.

Why do we believe the earth is as old as it is, for instance?

What methods did they use to discover the validity of that belief?

How does the method work?

Why is that method a good method to use?

I feel like, for a lot of things, the more questions that we ask about the things we've been told, the less answers they'd have for us.

>>1587845

I'm more concerned about my terrible spelling/grammar/punctuation errors than Mr. Smith coming out at this point. I still really love that meme/interpretation of Mr. Smith. I feel like it rings true.

Also, here is another quote for your collection:

"It is easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled." - Mark Twain

At least, that's what the internet tells me that he said.