> It appears that arguments on controversial subjects all boil down to "My
> authority is better than your authority" (appeal to authority) and "More
> people believe me than believe you" (appeal to votes).
>
> e.g. "I believe the earth is round because all these authors who wrote
> books say the earth is round."
>
> "No, the earth is flat. Here's a list of authors who wrote books who say
> the earth is flat."
>
> "It's round! There are more authors named Steve who believe the earth is
> round than you have authors total who say it's not."
>
> And we reach an impasse.
>
> Same impasse seems to apply to every contemporary debate, such as
> Evolution vs. Creationism, Jesus is Historical vs. Jesus is a Myth, all
> those controversies that remain unresolved even though each side thinks
> they have soundly resolved the issue and it's just the other side ...