The problem is, not all opinions are equal. And the internet, including forums like this, have no notion of status, authority, or stature — so it puts all opini

The problem is, not all opinions are equal. And the internet, including forums like this, have no notion of status, authority, or stature — so it puts all opinions, no matter how informed they are, on the same page. And while status and authority doesn’t mean one is right, it is important than on average our information sources are more informed than the average person who has no training, no relevant knowledge, no domain expertise, and little ability to disambiguate between contradictory or even harmful information. This tendency has spilled over into the nearly infinite sources of media and information that now exist, with accelerants that didn’t previously exist for bad information to travel wide, far, and fast. So when people say trust the science, what they’re saying is a bunch of people who do this all day every day are collectively hive minding some opinion on how things work. If it’s wrong, it will be wrong for likely non-obvious reasons. And thus that’s the best we as humans can hope for at any point in time. As a race we are continually learning and updating our understanding of the world; just because it’s not perfect at any one time doesn’t mean everyone should just throw away all that they know and assume everything is wrong and up for grabs.