Quote:
Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru
Also, I have not seen the evidence as to how air travel works. Does this mean it is irrational for me to have faith in that it will get me from Toronto to Vancouver in the sky?
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Do you know others who have flown on planes successfully? Have you ever personally seen an airplane fly? Have you ever, in fact, ridden in one successfully? Do you have reports which are congruent with your direct observations from sources which you have no reason to disbelieve as to the statistical safety of airliner flight as a general practice?
If you were able to provide me that much weight of empirical evidence for ANYTHING, I would of course believe it immediately, for at that point it would be irrational not to. It doesn't require faith to board a plane when you have no empirical reasons to doubt your statistical safety or the utility of flight.
What if, on the other hand, I heard you needed to get to Vancouver and I said "Oh, I have just the thing. I have invented a teleporter! You get in this coffin, and then I pour liquid nitrogen all over you, and then I point this laser at you which scans (and disintegrates) all of your molecules, and then you appear at your destination!"
Barring any of the empirical evidence you have for flight (second hand accounts, first hand observations, first hand experiences, reports from trustworthy vetted sources), would you hop right in on my say-so, without gathering some of the above? What if I let you read the instruction manual that I or one of my associates had written that said it was perfectly safe, would your worries be assuaged then? Letting me freeze you and disintegrate you with a laser, in hopes that it would teleport you to Vancouver, despite all of the common sense and evidence to the contrary would be a huge act of faith. Boarding a 737 is not.