31–40 of 59 posts
I love that there's a Flat Earth Society of Australia and I wonder whether they think they're on top or below the disk. In short, we have a crisis of epistemology in our culture, and facts (empirical, repeatable, independent measurements) don't win arguments any more.
It's interesting to me that they use language superficially similar to the language of rationality and science to justify their beliefs. The belief is ridiculous, but how many people have opinions that they rationalize as scientific that aren't so ridiculous but still unjustified? It's easier to convince yourself that you're 'rational' than it is to be 'rational'.
I find Flat-Earthers belief as surprising as an educated person believing in God.
The main difference is that the Flat-Earthers are a very small group, whereas those who believe in God is extremely large. The small group is seen as ridiculous, but since the larger group is popular belief, is not seen as absurd.
It is actually more absurd to me that a huge number of people still follow religions, than the fact that a super subset of people believe the Earth is flat.
I've been perversely interested in this Flat Earth movement for a few months. There are a lot of long, stunningly stupid, vehemently argued YouTube videos out there from flat earthers. There are a couple of basic science-minded people who take them on, often with some pretty entertaining results. But one thing is clear is that the flat earthers simply aren't listening. It goes a lot deeper than misunderstandings of f…
I find it amazing that this believing blindly in something so weird so easy for some people and it's definitely not related to their brain power, I know a few instances of very smart software developers, seriously smart people that believe in crazy cult like religions with aliens and stuff.
It's amazing how the brain is spitted, the part that you use to work and live is rational, methodical and precise the part that handles your feelings can be stupid, naive and gullible to the point where is overthrows your rational brain to the oblivion and you become a "Smapid" a Stupid Smart person that is a great coworker but I simply can't start any non work, business related conversation because it drives me insane.
It's really a waste.
Is this not easy to prove its false? Just take a flight from the southern tip of Chile to South Australia. If the earth is indeed flat, the flight would take 24+ hours. But since they would fly over Antarctica, it only takes ~10. I suppose one explanation could be that the 747 flight they are in somehow gained the ability to go faster than a F16 at maximum thrust.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The big thing is you can't convince someone who doesn't want to be convinced. They have already made up their mind, dug in their heels, and are willing to fight to the death. In some cases they would consider themselves a bad person if they didn't defend their ideals to the death. This is especially true if there is a religious aspect to their view. They don't call it a "reasoned position" on religion, it is belief.…
1 Cor 15:14-19 is very clear that if Jesus did not raise from the dead, then Christian beliefs are in vain. You are describing a cult not a core tenent of Christianity.
Peter 4:14 - If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
Matthew 10:22 - and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
Not all the exact same thing but the concept is fairly common in Christian scripture and teaching. Basically people will denounce you, hate you, oppose you, and ostracize you for your beliefs, but if you stick to it, you're blessed or favored by God.
Like anything regarding scripture and religion you can interpret this in plenty of ways. Maybe they don't specify what aspects of the faith you must always hold in spite of all else, but the way it's often taught (and as it was presented to me growing up in a Christian community), you must hold to your beliefs in the existence of a God, whose son was Christ, who rose from the dead, and all of the related supernatural implications laid out in the core beliefs of Christianity. People will argue against your beliefs and even persecute you for holding them, but if you want to really prove the strength of your faith and your worthiness as a Christian, you need to stick to your guns.
Either way, it's a matter of debate whether this is a core tenet or not so I'll agree with you there. Still, it's definitely a strong "principle" of many Christian teachings for as far back as the religion has resembled its modern form.
The absurdity of this intrigued me and I dropped by their site. Read a few threads and it seems like they're not fond of satellite photography and rely on their senses almost exclusively. So here's a little question for them: why does a ship seem to "sink" into the ocean the further it gets?
I find these people particularly interesting, not because of the absurdity of their belief, but because of the certainty they have in their belief and how difficult it is to convince them otherwise. The article points out that "many Americans" hold some kind of wacky belief and strongly resist attempts to challenge it: vaccines cause autism, global warming isn't real, the moon landing was faked, the earth is 6,000 ye…
I suspect that the followers of a cargo cult don't spontaneously all decide to believe whatever it is at the same time, someone will lead it and the rest will join in afterwards. I'm also guessing that the leader will be someone who has been a leader in the past and that the nature of the misunderstanding that is at the heart of the cult will reflect how that leader came to prominence previously.
I started wondering about this as I was trying to work out why the main group of climate change denyers in the UK had rented office space in the same street [1] as the Royal Society and other scientific bodies.
Is this not easy to prove its false? Just take a flight from the southern tip of Chile to South Australia. If the earth is indeed flat, the flight would take 24+ hours. But since they would fly over Antarctica, it only takes ~10. I suppose one explanation could be that the 747 flight they are in somehow gained the ability to go faster than a F16 at maximum thrust.
> [The theory is that] "GPS devices are rigged to make airplane pilots think they are flying in straight lines around a sphere when they are actually flying in circles above a disc."
I find Flat-Earthers belief as surprising as an educated person believing in God.
I'm not religious and don't believe in a god, but who's to say there isn't a god? We still don't have an explanation for how we're here. Until then, I'd say it's as fair a theory as any. Folks who believe in a god simply have a reason to believe, and that works for them.