Most of what people believe is taken on trust, not direct observation

Evidence

When we say that the new conspiracists simply assert things and expect others to affirm and repeat them, without evidence or connection to anything verifiable, we do not mean to posit a crude epistemology in which true beliefs are based only on observations that we directly collect and investigations that we directly conduct. Much of what we know, or think we know, we take on trust. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 280

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: All knowledge depends on fiduciary trust in some community, including conspiracist belief — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 282; Most people experience trust as relationship-bound, not generalized — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 876; Believing false claims often reflects credible-source trust, not deliberate distortion — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 128 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Most people experience trust as relationship-bound, not generalized #qualifies (0.85) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 876
• Believing false claims often reflects credible-source trust, not deliberate distortion #exemplifies (0.80) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 128
• Most trust is unreflective, routinized background assumption rather than calculated risk #expands (0.78)