Comment Real Skepticism (Score 1) 1142
Being skeptical is part of being a scientist and questioning new discoveries, since that is how you can sort out wrong claims from not-wrong claims. However, at some point, a discovery is no longer questioned and is accepted as 'true'. No one now seems to question that earth orbits the sun, or that the shape of the earth resembles a sphere due to overwhelming evidence, but when those claims were originally announced, they were greeted with much skepticism. Being skeptical of these claims now would make one look very silly.
Many people who do not accept evolution simply think they are being 'skeptical' of the claim, which is an admirable scientific trait. However, at this point, evolution is accepted as happening due to overwhelming evidence, so they simply look silly.
This leads up to my question of how do we tell someone that there is no reason to be so skeptical of evolution anymore since it's regarded as 'true' and they should just learn more about it instead of dismissing it immediately, while still professing that people should be skeptical of new claims and discoveries?