Flat-Earth theory – Why such views are increasingly taking hold and how the physics community should best respond
Flat-Earth theory – Why such views are increasingly taking hold and how the physics community should best respond
Rachel Brazil explores ways in which the physics community can best combat unscientific thinking, such as the belief the Earth is flat
The idea that the Earth is a sphere was all but settled by ancient Greek philosophers such as Aristotle (384–322 BC), who obtained empirical evidence after travelling to Egypt and seeing new constellations of stars. Eratosthenes, in the third century BC, became the first person to calculate the circumference of the Earth. Islamic scholars made further advanced measurements from about the 9th century AD onwards, while European navigators circled the Earth in the 16th century. Images from space were final proof, if any were needed.
Today’s flat-Earth believers are not, though, the first to doubt what seems unquestionable. The notion of a flat Earth initially resurfaced in the 1800s as a backlash to scientific progress, especially among those who wished to return to biblical literalism. Perhaps the most famous proponent was the British writer Samuel Rowbotham (1816–1884). He proposed the Earth is a flat immovable disc, centred at the North Pole, with Antarctica replaced by an ice wall at the disc’s outer boundary.
The International Flat Earth Research Society, which was set up in 1956 by Samuel Shenton, a signwriter living in Dover, UK, was regarded by many people as merely a symbol of British eccentricity – amusing and of little consequence. But in the early 2000s, with the Internet now a well-established vehicle for off-beat views, the idea began to bubble up again, mostly in the US. Discussions sprouted in online forums, the Flat Earth Society was relaunched in October 2009 and the annual flat-Earth conference began in earnest.
You're viewing a single thread.
Flat-earthers, anti-vaxxers and any other anti-common sense stupidity should be publicly shamed. No reason to be nice to the people who purposefully and are willfully ignorant. Uninformed and uneducated are fine, but these people pride themselves on being idiots. They belong in the trash bin of history.
the only people who belong in the trash bin of history are the people who needlessly shame other people for no good reason; these people haven't hurt anyone.
Anti-vaxxers have hurt many people, but maybe you didn't mean them when you said these people".
Flat-earth belief likely has secondary unwanted effects, like how all conspiracy theories eventually funnel into anti-semitism. It's also a huge opportunity cost.
Flat-earth belief likely has secondary unwanted effects, like how all conspiracy theories eventually funnel into anti-semitism.
Correlation is not causation
I don't know what point you were trying to make
I am saying flat earth believes attract a lot of conspiracy nuts, and a lot of conspiracy nuts also believe in anti-semitic conspiracy theories.
That doesn’t mean flat earth believes cause them to be anti-semitic.
The point is that flat earth conspiracy theories aren't just "the earth is flat." It's a whole body of conspiracy theories that seek to explain how and why round earthers are suppressing the "truth." And, surprise surprise, it's a conspiracy theory based in hate. It's not a correlation. It literally just is.
I'm pretty sure it's a pretty well known phenomenon that conspiracy theories funnel down into antisemitism
Paywall. Got a gift link?
I just use archive.is for paywall breaking. Magic.
no i didn't mean anti-vaxxers with "these people"
Problem is, there's a lot of overlap between those two beliefs, in their causes and the people affected.