Proving What We Already "Know"

[arewethereyet]

Know - in quotes seems questionable to me.

Assume or believe seems to be more accurate.

A non-zero number of people "know" who their parents are, like 100% degree of certainty, but are wrong.  Maybe mom fooled around with the milk man, maybe they are adopted, maybe there was a mix-up at the hospital.

Christians "know" for sure, some of them, that God is real.  They do not even bother to challenge their beliefs, because they do not consider them beliefs at all, but knowledge.

But in mocking them, how often do I ask myself-- how do I really know that what I'm sure about is after all so sure?  It seems to me the process for us all is pretty similar:
-we learn things from our elders, who we believe
-our positions are confirmed by most of the people around us
-we accept vicarious anecdotes as a fair substitute for direct investigation
-we believe we COULD put the evidence to the test, so we don't actually bother to do so

I've seen dozens of images of a round Earth in textbooks, but up until computers really only a couple different ones reprinted many times.  I've flown above cloud cover from country to country, but never really around the world in a way that would clearly confirm to me that it was round.

I very much believe that the Earth is round-- I'd say I know it-- but people not that long ago knew, in much the same way and for similar reasons, that it wasn't.

bold mine

Ever heard of DNA?

Anyhow - I was born in a small naval infirmary.  No other babies to be switched with.  So that's out.  

Have various physical traits that run on dad's family that I have passed on to my kids.

btw - I know the parentage of my kids.  

Try again.