system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Are most arguments just an appeal to authority?

I've notice that almost all debate, whether it's on You Tube, reddit, or in person, all revolve around simply appealing to authority.  Well, that is how it seems to me.

For instance, if someone told me that the sun does *not* produce radiation, I really don't know how I could prove them wrong.

I would just tell them to google it, or read the facts out of a science book.  But the truth is...I really don't know anything about radiation, other than what I have read.  And I have never tested any of it.  And even if I did, I probably wouldn't even know if I was doing the test correctly.

I realize that is pretty much the way it is with not only almost all of my beliefs, but mostly everyone else's too.  People will argue for hours on topics that none of them have ever had any direct contact or knowledge of.  This is what I would say 99% of discussions I see are like.

If someone asked me if evolution was true, I would say yes, I believe it is.  If they asked me why, or asked me to prove it...all I can do is just appeal to the authorities on it.  I really have no idea myself.
gpt
Appeals to authority are only fallacious when the authority in question isn't related to the issue. A lot of folk reference Morgan Freeman when it comes to ending racism but he isn't really an authority on what is a multi-faceted issue better answered by sociologists.

Or taking the word of a neurologist on ethical issues over that of an ethicist.