I can't believe that I took something like that for granted without questioning it. The second I read your response I had a flashback to science class in high school, and thought about how we take so many facts for granted without questioning what's being taught to us.
It reminds me of a great book by Bill Bryson, it's called A short history of nearly everything. The intro starts with him wondering about the oceans as he gazes at them through the window of an airplane and questions that he asked as a kid in class that were never properly answered, and he ends up writing a book that talks about the advent of Scientific thought and goes on to discuss major scientific breakthroughs till date (or like 2010 maybe, cant remember).
And I completely agree with you, inductive reasoning can sometimes be flawed, but in terms of rational thought it's still one of the best methods that we have to come to conclusions, albeit they're sometimes way off from the truth.