A little late to this discussion. Sorry. We have a science teacher at my school who believes the Earth is flat and appears to be teaching it in his classes. We have had numerous phonecalls from the parents. He actually asked, "What? I'm not allowed to teach the truth?" I believe he should be forced to turn in his science teacher license.
Of all the conspiracy theories, and there are a lot, this has to be the easiest one to disprove and the one that makes the least sense.

Ask him to climb Mt. Fuji with a telescope, look for Pikes Peak or Mt. McKinley, and report results.

threeyzmonkeys wrote: ↑Mon Apr 03, 2023 11:21 pm A little late to this discussion. Sorry. We have a science teacher at my school who believes the Earth is flat and appears to be teaching it in his classes. We have had numerous phonecalls from the parents. He actually asked, "What? I'm not allowed to teach the truth?" I believe he should be forced to turn in his science teacher license.
Of all the conspiracy theories, and there are a lot, this has to be the easiest one to disprove and the one that makes the least sense.

That's insane. I totally agree. He should be fired immediately. Just imagine what other nonsense this teacher believes if he believes the Earth is flat.

This is a form of child abuse. He's literally doing potentially long-term damage to these impressionable children. When we're young, our brains are like sponges, and, like a sponge, our brains absorb true or untrue information, just like clean or dirty water. Whatever a sponge gets near gets absorbed. So these kids are sucking in this nonsense, and now someone is going to have to figure out a way to undo the damage. Hopefully this makes sense. I'm on my first cup of morning coffee and half asleep.

I'm super late to this and the video is down but I can a least generalize about this. Yeah I never understood the flat earth thing. If its a conspiracy than what exactly is the end goal for that conspiracy? Who would gain anything from it? Given what we know about how gravity works how would a flat earth even work exactly? I just don't buy it. At least with the moon landing conspiracy it was to make sure the US laid claim to landing on the moon first even if they had to fake it to do so. At least with that one I could meet people half way on even if I don't think its true.

Shawn.B wrote: ↑Wed May 10, 2023 2:05 pm If its a conspiracy than what exactly is the end goal for that conspiracy?

This is an interesting question. Is flat earth belief a conspiracy theory? I’d say, yes, absolutely. Borrowing this definition from Merriam-Webster:

conspiracy theory : a theory that explains an event or set of circumstances as the result of a secret plot by usually powerful conspirators
the conspiracy theories surrounding Kennedy's assassination
also : a theory asserting that a secret of great importance is being kept from the public

See second definition especially. It alludes to a psychological component: the need to belong to a group and to feel important. So, flat earth believers, like believers of any conspiracy, believe they know something the rest of us sheeple are too stupid to see. This need to feel superior is fed by confirmation bias and “motivated reasoning.” People can believe almost anything if they want to believe it. Facts and evidence be damned.

Flat Earth Theory provides some useful emotional comfort. It validates the view that our human perspective is the sole source of significance and meaning. It says life can be simple and local. Ambiguously, it says things are as they seem. I recall visiting a remote village in Papua New Guinea where almost no one ever walked beyond the encircling hills. I can well imagine the illiterate inhabitants would be shocked to learn the earth is round, as their grandparents were shocked to learn of the existence of metal, writing and the sea. Flat earth is a natural naive assumption. In my philosophy masters thesis, I explored the existential argument from Martin Heidegger that human psychology naturally produces two rival epistemologies, the practical and the theoretical. Our practical theory of knowledge generally accepts the earth is flat for our ordinary everyday concerns, whereas of course our theoretical epistemology fully accept scientific knowledge. The problem with just relying on practical observation is that it can be highly misleading, whereas solely theoretical understanding can lack local engagement and care.

Many flat earthers think they're smarter than scientists with their fancy PHds and such. They may do one experiment that validates that opinion and stop. One technique that seems to be popular involves super-zoom cameras that can go from wide angle to extreme telephoto. They'll show a wide angle beach scene then zoom way in to show a boat that can't be seen in the original shot. "See? It's flat!" Dunno why they find that convincing. As I asked previously, why can't you see the Eiffel Tower from the East Coast of the US with a telescope?

Another aspect I noticed from politics is the very carefully curated bizarre personal opinion. Believing they came up with a wild theory all on their own by "doing their own research," their internal facts must be delicately cared for, soothed, and protected from attack. This opinion is unique, precious, brings much pleasure, is beautiful, may provide the side benefit of sparking hatred towards others, and therefore cannot be changed in any way. It's like they've heard all the counter-arguments, but will never stop polishing and admiring internal gems of wisdom. One sign of this is when encountering contrary information they smile broadly and say something like "Yes, but this is MY opinion!"

Flat Earth Theory is a powerful example of the seductive allure of the Dunning-Kruger Syndrome, the ability of those with a sufficiently advanced level of stupidity to systematically ignore all evidence in order to maintain the compelling elegance of their beautiful idea.

The idea that a person who has never been to college or had never graduated from college thinks he knows more than brilliant people who have studied and then gone on to teach in the top universities in the world as well as author books and papers on astronomy, geology, chemistry, physics, etc. Moreover, they think they have the grand overall view when no scientists really do. This system is so complex that each of its many facets have to be studied separately and forming many branches and then linking them all together requires some knowledge and expertise few if anyone actually have but this flerf has figured it all out. So, don't worry. We're in good hands. The flerfs will protect us.

LanDroid wrote: ↑Tue May 16, 2023 2:53 pm Another aspect I noticed from politics is the very carefully curated bizarre personal opinion. Believing they came up with a wild theory all on their own by "doing their own research," their internal facts must be delicately cared for, soothed, and protected from attack.

At first glance belief in a flat earth belief seems completely bonkers. And of course it is! But then we see there's a very close correlation between flat earth belief and a literal interpretation of the Bible, and it starts to make sense. And that's the motivation for perhaps most flat-earthers. If you want to believe in the Great Flood and that God created humans a few thousand years ago and that evolution is false, you've already rejected pretty much all of modern science. The door is wide open for a flat earth.

There are probably many other reasons people like the idea of a flat earth. They simply don't understand science enough to know how ridiculous the idea is. (See Robert's previous post about the Dunning-Kruger effect). Or they just like conspiracy theories in general. But for most flat-earthers, a flat earth goes hand in hand with a literal interpretation of the Bible.

https://www.theatlantic.com/family/arch ... on/622908/