Reality show idea: Make Flat Earthers search for the world's edge

Moltuae

Moltuae

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Recent article from Big Think: https://bigthink.com/surprising-science/reality-show-about-flat-earthers
The contestants would try to reach the end of the world, as they understand it.
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haha. I'd watch it. I think it's a great idea! :D



The day/night animation is just hilarious. I mean, there are just so many things wrong with it, it's difficult to know where to begin. But, for starters, why is the Sun casting an elliptical pattern of light on a supposedly flat surface? And even most school children could probably tell you that appearance of the sun and the moon in the sky are not mutually exclusive events. I mean, really, just observing the sky for a few nights would convince any sane person that this theory is so obviously wrong.




... memes tend to acquire new converts by their sheer scope and intellectual frivolity. One clear catalyst for the resurgence of this idea has certainly been the Internet.
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This is something I find both interesting and saddening. At the dawn of the internet age, perhaps somewhat naively, I looked upon the rapid growth in global communication and information exchange as something very positive; something that I hoped would spread knowledge, educate the world and displace falsehoods and fallacies with facts. With hindsight, I was clearly "underestimating the ingenuity of complete fools", as Douglas Adams so eloquently put it. Perhaps the best solution would be to turn his HHGTTG 'B Ark' idea into a reality and use it to rid ourselves of the useless part of the population!
 
Moltuae said:
This is something I find both interesting and saddening. At the dawn of the internet age, perhaps somewhat naively, I looked upon the rapid growth in global communication and information exchange as something very positive; something that I hoped would spread knowledge, educate the world and displace falsehoods and fallacies with facts. With hindsight, I was clearly "underestimating the ingenuity of complete fools", as Douglas Adams so eloquently put it. Perhaps the best solution would be to turn his HHGTTG 'B Ark' idea into a reality and use it to rid ourselves of the useless part of the population!
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Perzackly. When you consider the huge amount of intellectual effort and ingenuity that has been spent on creating...ummm...FaceBook or Angry Birds, it's quite depressing. Still, as they say, don't blame the gun, blame the person holding it.
 
The Greeks knew that the Earth was round... they made the Antikythera mechanism 100's of years BC.
Clickspring is making a true-to-the-period replica made from X-Ray Scans... super fascinating.


Unfortunately, religion is the underlying reason for flat-earthers... whether they know it or not. The "text" says this, so.... it must be.

galileo-galilei-5-638.jpg



Intellectual laziness is a serious problem.
 
phaZed said:
Unfortunately, religion is the underlying reason for flat-earthers.
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Yet, if they actually read the Bible they'd stumble upon this verse:

Isaiah 44:22 - It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth (from a Hebrew word that can also mean a sphere).

So I guess God knew the shape long before science. Just some foolish church bureaucrats who'd never read the bible had it wrong.
 
phaZed said:
Clickspring is making a true-to-the-period replica made from X-Ray Scans... super fascinating.
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Wow. I couldn't stop watching that. There's a staggering amount of skill and patience needed there to make all those gears with such precision. The time it must have taken to cut all those teeth individually by hand, and so accurately too .... Amazing.
 
DataMedics said:
Isaiah 44:22 - It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth (from a Hebrew word that can also mean a sphere).

So I guess God knew the shape long before science. Just some foolish church bureaucrats who'd never read the bible had it wrong.
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I think the problem is in the interpretation, which in itself, is another debate for some other place ;).

You likely pulled that from memory, but a quick correction: It's Isaiah 40:22 -
RationalWiki says this of the quote:
The earth is a circle[edit]
  • Isaiah 40:22: "He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth (Earth’s orbit?), and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy (map), and spreads them out like a tent to live in."
Jews and Christians use this quote to "prove" that the Bible implies that the earth is spherical, although the word is "circular", and may refer to the perception of a 360 degree panoramic view. Some scholars point out that Isaiah never uses the Modern Hebrew word for sphere Kadur, anywhere.[53] It is not clear to Theists whether this is relevant, because the interpretation of the word Kadur in the Bible is disputed by Theists.[54] This line probably does refer to a flat model of the earth, since an alternative translation is "He sits enthroned above the vault of the earth," a reference to the firmament.

Also worth noting is the fact that the passage describes the Heavens as like a canopy, not the Earth. This interpretation would seem to indicate that Biblical literalists do not even know how to read sentences properly
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But beyond that, there are some glaring inconsistencies in the Bible (as well as other religious texts, I'm not picking on the Bible for any other reason than it's involvement for flat-earthers)...

(shamlessly pulled from the same RationalWiki page)
  • "Daniel 4:10-11. In Daniel, the king “saw a tree of great height at the centre of the earth… reaching with its top to the sky and visible to the earth's farthest bounds.” Only with a flat Earth could a tall tree be visible from "the earth's farthest bounds" — this is impossible on a spherical Earth, or is the tree a rocket?
  • Matthew 4:8: "Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain [spaceship?], and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world"
  • Luke 4:5: "And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time."
  • Isaiah 11:12 "And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners [north, south, east and west] of the earth."
  • Revelation 7:1 "And after these things I saw four angels standing on four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree."

So really, it comes down to 'which' part you want to interpret as correct (or ignore!)... but it is very clear that Biblical text didn't have a spherical Earth in mind... both in its declarations and in its use in context, explaining the Galileo situation of the time.

.... or, just "Science"... which seems to work pretty good without religion.

Cheers!
 
I wonder how the Flat Earthers explain the seasons with that simplistic sun/moon rotation (not to mention the tides!). The easily observable daylight duration change that alternates back and forth between the northern and southern hemispheres could not exist with that ridiculous model.

And how does the light from a sun, that is approx. 93 million miles away, project on the earth like a spotlight? Or do these people believe the sun is much nearer and smaller? :confused:

"Feckin' Eejits", as Father Ted would say.
 
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Moltuae said:
I wonder how the Flat Earthers explain the seasons with that simplistic sun/moon rotation (not to mention the tides!). The easily observable daylight duration change that alternates back and forth between the northern and southern hemispheres could not exist with that ridiculous model.

And how does the light from a sun, that is approx. 93 million miles away, project on the earth like a spotlight? Or do these people believe the sun is much nearer and smaller? :confused:

"Feckin' Eejits", as Father Ted would say.
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Feel free to ask a flat earther
But I warn you to prepare for a non-nonsensical convoluted "answer" that offers no valid explanation to the questions asked.

You WILL walk away feeling more stupid after reading an answer from any of them
 
Moltuae said:
And how does the light from a sun, that is approx. 93 million miles away......do these people believe the sun is much nearer and smaller? :confused:
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Maybe it's using Eveready rechargables and good LED's off eBay??
If it's so close it makes me wonder why NASA is spending 4 billion + on the Parker Solar Probe to sample the outer layers of the Suns Corona?

Moltuae said:
"Feckin' Eejits", as Father Ted would say.
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Mrs Brown would agree!

I have no time for these fools. :rolleyes:
 
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