Truth is a difficult thing. Just a few centuries ago, the smartest humans alive were dead wrong about damn near everything.

They were wrong about gods. Wrong about astronomy. Wrong about disease. Wrong about heredity. Wrong about physics. Wrong about racism, sexism, nationalism, governance, and many other moral issues. Wrong about geology. Wrong about cosmology. Wrong about chemistry. Wrong about evolution. Wrong about nearly every subject imaginable.

Excerpted from Luke Muehlhauser’s “On Seeking Truth” at http://commonsenseatheism.com/?p=3173 via http://ben.casnocha.com/2009/12/quotes-of-the-day.html