The Flat Earth society

[parsifal]

A friend at work sent me this link


http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/space/the-flat-earth-theory-has-seen-a-resurgence-with-people-trying-to-prove-our-planet-is-not-a-sphere/news-story/0bd1226fbe2e2bc819ec12733591e8c9


My comment is that there are some people who work exceptionally hard at stupid.

Thought you guys might get a laugh at least.

 

[pbehn]

It says that the ancient Greeks believed the world was flat, that is not what I read. Only people who live far from water believed the world was flat, possibly because they didnt really think about it much.

 

[Marcel]

I love this:

Gravity as a theory is false. Objects simply fall.

On the danger of starting a nasty debate, this sounds very similar to what some of the global warming skeptics said when I discussed with them:

In fact, these people will have you believe everything you think you know about the world is wrong and you should blame it on a global conspiracy involving NASA, governments and scientists.

 

[stona]

My comment is that there are some people who work exceptionally hard at stupid.

Exactly

Steve

 

[fubar57]

 

[stona]

On the danger of starting a nasty debate, this sounds very similar to what some of the global warming skeptics said when I discussed with them:

The problem is that proper scientific debate is being curtailed by both sides, who take positions not dissimilar to religious articles of faith. The earth is warming, nobody seriously disbelieves that, but the debate about why and what is causing it, and how much is due to human activity is not taking place. This leaves plenty of space for those talking out of their arses on both sides to be heard and not properly challenged. As an ex-scientist myself I find it deeply depressing.
Cheers
Steve

 

[Capt. Vick]

All I have to say is: I like turtles

 

[Peter Gunn]

All I have to say is: I like turtles

As do I...

 

[DBII]

Lucy Van Pelt always said that snow does not fall Fromm the sky. It came up from the ground. The wind would blow it around making people think it fell from the sky... I like chocolate covered turtles...

 

[Robert Porter]

A neighbor in our community is one of a number of Flat Earthers I have run across, recently he sent me the following as "proof". I have no way to respond to this kind of thing, I mean how does one combat this? At least civilly.

Airbus A321 cruise speed 515 mph.
23.75 minutes @ 515 mph. is roughly 203.85 miles along the earth's surface.
The pilot should have dipped the nose to compensate for over 5 miles of curvature!
But nope!



Very simple experiment and a very confident guy posting it! Hard combination to beat!

 

[stona]

Hard combination to beat!

Not really. What has he shown? He's shown that the aircraft was in level flight and nothing else. His basic premise, that the aircraft "should be constantly dipping its nose forward, to compensate for the curvature [of the earth]" is incorrect and simply demonstrates his ignorance of how aircraft fly. An aircraft does not have to lower its nose to lose altitude. He himself would probably have noticed, if he had bothered to look at his spirit level, that as the aircraft came into land, whilst descending, the the nose of the aircraft was raised, but this did not cause it to zoom off into the upper atmosphere .
He's a f*cking idiot.
Cheers
Steve

 

[Crimea_River]

 

[Peter Gunn]

A neighbor in our community is one of a number of Flat Earthers I have run across, recently he sent me the following as "proof". I have no way to respond to this kind of thing, I mean how does one combat this? At least civilly.

Airbus A321 cruise speed 515 mph.
23.75 minutes @ 515 mph. is roughly 203.85 miles along the earth's surface.
The pilot should have dipped the nose to compensate for over 5 miles of curvature!
But nope!



Very simple experiment and a very confident guy posting it! Hard combination to beat!

Wow... just... Wow.

 

[Gnomey]

Some people are just really special...

 

[Robert Porter]

Not really. What has he shown? He's shown that the aircraft was in level flight and nothing else. His basic premise, that the aircraft "should be constantly dipping its nose forward, to compensate for the curvature [of the earth]" is incorrect and simply demonstrates his ignorance of how aircraft fly. An aircraft does not have to lower its nose to lose altitude. He himself would probably have noticed, if he had bothered to look at his spirit level, that as the aircraft came into land, whilst descending, the the nose of the aircraft was raised, but this did not cause it to zoom off into the upper atmosphere .
He's a f*cking idiot.
Cheers
Steve

Just to be clear those were his words not mine! But I agree, you just cannot argue with this kind of insanity, facts and logic do not apply! Drives me right round the bend!

 

[Robert Porter]

When he first approached me I honestly thought he was pulling my leg, but now, sigh... I truly do not understand how people can not understand what should be basic grade school science. I just find it hard to believe that in this day and age this kind of thing even still exists, let alone the fact it is gaining adherents and expanding!!!!

 

[parsifal]

As the science gets more complex , the weirdness goes up proportionately. Asimov once said "any technology that is sufficiently advanced is like magic to most people". These people are confronted with some complex earth science issues and attempt to exploit that into something it is not. They are essentially equating the natural sciences to magic.


There are complex sciences from apparently simple observations and this is one of them. A couple of ex amples

Most of us believe in the Newtonian physics, but his laws are only good or true in the relative environments that we live in. approach c (the speed of light) or subject the environments to massive gravitational forces from a black hole and his laws dont stand, they begin to fail in their ability to describe the physics occurring in those environments

Most of us believe that the earth orbits the sun right. not necessarily so. It is true to say that in the context of the solar system, but in the context of the galaxy it probably is not true. Extrapolate that to a universe and in fact both the earth and the sun are constantly expanding away each other. I struggle with that stuff.

Maybe the earth is flat after all, but these nuts aren't operating at the theoretical sciences level to show that. in the context of our existence on the planet, the world is spherical or almost so....

 

[stona]

the world is spherical ....

Even the ancient Greeks (and probably others) assumed that well over 2000 years ago. It was good enough to give them an approximation of the size of the earth which was really not bad at all.

The earth to moon distance is measured several times a day and it's not a few thousand miles! Since late May the moon has been easing away from us, but that doesn't mean we are about to lose it.

Cheers

Steve

 

[buffnut453]

Hmmm...if the earth is flat, what does the other side look like? Do they also deny that the earth is orbiting around the sun because, presumably, a flat earth would have to be flipping like a coin-toss to account for sunrise/sunset?

I can't read this thread any more. So sad that modern technology allows such inane concepts to actually increase in popularity.

 

[stona]

The earth is at the centre of the universe and everything revolves around it....everyone knows this. If it wasn't so then astrology wouldn't work either
Cheers
Steve