Ok All You Flat Earth Idiots: Refute This, I Dare Ya!

[sherpa]

1 hour ago, BillsFan4 said:

Yeah I remember seeing pictures from flights on the concorde where you could start to see the curvature of the earth. Iirc it flew at around 60,000 feet. 

 

You can see it at 50,000', with a good window.

Again, it starts getting dark there as well. 

[DrDawkinstein]

17 hours ago, WhoTom said:

 

They do, indeed.

 

A few months ago, a flat-Earther and amateur rocketeer was killed when he crashed his homemade rocket during an attempt to fly to 5000 feet - allegedly high enough to prove that the Earth is flat, because at 5000 feet you'd be able to see the curvature if it were round.

 

Except that you can't detect the curvature from that altitude. Hell, planes fly at 30,000 feet and you can't see it from that altitude either. The Earth's diameter is 8000 miles - nearly 42,000,000 feet. Do you think you'll detect the curvature of a 42 million foot diameter sphere from 5000 feet (0.01% of the diameter) away?

 

Interesting thing about Mike Hughes is that it is widely known/believed that he wasnt really a flat-earther, but instead paid them lip service to help fund his suicidal rocket hobby.

 

He had already been building and launching rockets for years before joining that community. And only did so after his money ran out.

 

From his wiki: In 2016, Hughes launched a failed fundraising attempt for a rocket that raised $310. After professing his belief in a flat Earth later that year, Hughes gained support within the flat-Earth community. His post-flat-Earth fundraising campaign made its $7,875 goal.

[WhoTom]

19 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

From his wiki: In 2016, Hughes launched a failed fundraising attempt for a rocket that raised $310. After professing his belief in a flat Earth later that year, Hughes gained support within the flat-Earth community. His post-flat-Earth fundraising campaign made its $7,875 goal.

 

So he conned the flat-Earthers, huh? Talk about your easy marks. ?

[K-9]

This is a lengthy video, but it’s worth it, imo, because we live in an unprecedented era of science denial made worse by lay people who not only deny it but profess to know more with little to no expertise in a given field of study. And given the level of acceptance of conspiratorial thinking nowadays, the problem is compounded. Rational people need to step to the fore and shout these people down at every opportunity. 
 

Thanks to Professor Dave for taking the time to shoot holes into these ridiculous, totally unsubstantiated alternate views.
 

 

Edited August 13, 2020 by K-9

[Warcodered]

49 minutes ago, K-9 said:

This is a lengthy video, but it’s worth it, imo, because we live in an unprecedented era of science denial made worse by lay people who not only deny it but profess to know more with little to no expertise in a given field of study. And given the level of acceptance of conspiratorial thinking nowadays, the problem is compounded. Rational people need to step to the fore and shout these people down at every opportunity. 
 

Thanks to Professor Dave for taking the time to shoot holes into these ridiculous, totally unsubstantiated alternate views.
 

 

I'd recommend the Behind the Curve Documentary

 

I thought it was just going to be a bunch of Flat Earth propaganda but it's not really that at all it's pretty funny and examines why people end up believing stuff like this.

[SDS]

Ultimately, the problem lies with whom we decide to trust. I have never personally proven the earth is round, vaccines work, GMOs are harmless, or little else. Everything is told to me by someone else. Who we trust to convey information is what holds all this together.

[Warcodered]

23 minutes ago, SDS said:

Ultimately, the problem lies with whom we decide to trust. I have never personally proven the earth is round, vaccines work, GMOs are harmless, or little else. Everything is told to me by someone else. Who we trust to convey information is what holds all this together.

Pretty much it's impossible to believe in the Flat Earth without also believing in a massive conspiracy.

 

Like I watched this fun little movie "The Dish" starring Sam Neil from Jurassic Park. It's a fun movie about the people that were in charge of the radio telescope in Australia that was one of the ones they had to use to communicate with Astronauts and get video during the Moon Landing. Those people would have to also be in on this conspiracy.

Edited August 13, 2020 by Warcodered

[SDS]

2 minutes ago, Warcodered said:

Pretty much it's impossible to believe in the Flat Earth without also believing in a massive conspiracy.

again, 99.9% of what we think we know is based upon trust. I could easily believe in a massive conspiracy theory if all the people I trusted told me there was a massive conspiracy theory. That goes for anyone here.

[RaoulDuke79]

4 hours ago, SDS said:

Ultimately, the problem lies with whom we decide to trust. I have never personally proven the earth is round, vaccines work, GMOs are harmless, or little else. Everything is told to me by someone else. Who we trust to convey information is what holds all this together.

I also think it's human nature to inherently trust those who reinforce our current beliefs. 

[SDS]

28 minutes ago, RaoulDuke79 said:

I also think it's human nature to inherently trust those who reinforce our current beliefs. 

 

Sure. It is a catch 22. 

[LeGOATski]

9 hours ago, SDS said:

Ultimately, the problem lies with whom we decide to trust. I have never personally proven the earth is round, vaccines work, GMOs are harmless, or little else. Everything is told to me by someone else. Who we trust to convey information is what holds all this together.

When large scale behaviors can be demonstrated with small-scale experiments, there's no problem. That's the beauty of math and science, isn't it?

 

History and current events, on the other hand, yes. You're dependent on the source of the information. For current events even, it's becoming more and more important to cross-check multiple sources.

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

there are none so blind as those who will not see.

 

 

[LeGOATski]

22 hours ago, Warcodered said:

I'd recommend the Behind the Curve Documentary

 

I thought it was just going to be a bunch of Flat Earth propaganda but it's not really that at all it's pretty funny and examines why people end up believing stuff like this.

Just finished. It's a really entertaining little documentary.

 

I relate to these flat Earthers when they express fear of the science that is reducing them to little grains of dust hurling through space at 1000 mph. That's scary to everyone.

 

The footage portrays a combination of two human desires: wanting to reassure ourselves in the face of the unknown and wanting to exist in a community. These two desires support one another - reassurance builds community and community builds reassurance. The Flat Earth movement is just a more mentally unhealthy approach towards fulfilling those desires, because its more likely to end in disaster (as the ending of the documentary shows). As opposed to organized religion, which can still be justified in the face of science.

[The Dean]

On 8/9/2020 at 4:19 PM, {::'KayCeeS::} said:

 

Why is it THAT stupid?

 

This is my question.

 

 

I'll go ahead and give you the benefit of the doubt and simply assume you're screwing around here.  But as Fearless Leader (SDS) pointed out it all depends on what "evidence" you choose to believe.   So let's take a look to see what evidence is considered by people who actually believe the earth is flat. (My guess is there are very few who actually BELIEVE that, but espouse the position for other various reasons.)

 

 

It's 2020. Aircraft and seacraft have been around for quite some time.  Any pictures of the edge of the earth that can be verified? Since one can fly or "sail" east or west from the USA to get to China (for example) how can that be explained?  Is there any reliable/confirmable evidence anyone has fallen off the edge of the earth?

 

So yes, people believe what they choose to believe.  Intelligent people do so based on reliable evidence.  Those unaware of said evidence may not be "stupid" but simply ignorant.  But I'd say purposeful ignorance is pretty damn stupid.

[LeGOATski]

16 minutes ago, The Dean said:

 

 

I'll go ahead and give you the benefit of the doubt and simply assume you're screwing around here.  But as Fearless Leader (SDS) pointed out it all depends on what "evidence" you choose to believe.   So let's take a look to see what evidence is considered by people who actually believe the earth is flat. (My guess is there are very few who actually BELIEVE that, but espouse the position for other various reasons.)

 

 

It's 2020. Aircraft and seacraft have been around for quite some time.  Any pictures of the edge of the earth that can be verified? Since one can fly or "sail" east or west from the USA to get to China (for example) how can that be explained?  Is there any reliable/confirmable evidence anyone has fallen off the edge of the earth?

 

So yes, people believe what they choose to believe.  Intelligent people do so based on reliable evidence.  Those unaware of said evidence may not be "stupid" but simply ignorant.  But I'd say purposeful ignorance is pretty damn stupid.

They don't fall off the edge because there's an unscalable wall of ice.

 

In....your....face.

[The Dean]

38 minutes ago, LeGOATski said:

They don't fall off the edge because there's an unscalable wall of ice.

 

In....your....face.

 

 

? Pics?

[LeGOATski]

13 minutes ago, The Dean said:

 

 

? Pics?

 

You can see members of the Illuminati guarding it.

Edited August 14, 2020 by LeGOATski

[The Dean]

2 minutes ago, LeGOATski said:

 

You can see members of the Illuminati guarding it.

 

 

OK. I'm sold!

 

Wait a minute! If that's the end, where does that tunnel lead. Something fishy going on here.

 

Edited August 14, 2020 by The Dean

[LeGOATski]

4 minutes ago, The Dean said:

 

 

OK. I'm sold!

 

Wait a minute! If that's the end, where does that tunnel lead. Something fishy going on here.

 

Not a tunnel, just the break room. You can get some coffee, snacks, shoot the ***** and what not before you go back out on patrol.

[Warcodered]

11 minutes ago, LeGOATski said:

 

You can see members of the Illuminati guarding it.

Unfortunately the dragon destroyed the wall letting the White Walkers in.

 

and now we've got Covid 19 running amok.