Rigid thinking - Let's talk Flat Earth and problems with conspiracy theories [What I write may not be what you expect]

dwinblood (75)in #flatearth • 8 years ago (edited)

EDIT:New subtitle: How many people will read the title and assume I am supporting flat earth?
Over the past year I've seen an increasing number of people coming to believe that the Earth is indeed flat and that we all have been the subject of a great con. I tend to avoid weighing in on this generally as I initially thought people were just trying to get people to engage in debate for the sheer fun of it. In other words I didn't think they were serious. It turns out I was wrong.

I am one of those that actually knows what the words conspiracy and theory mean. I listen to and study a lot of them. A conspiracy is essentially when a group of people collude/conspire to make something happen. Some people will say this only applies to illegal things. Yet considering it is governments that decided legality and that can sway this way or that depending upon the rule makers, I'd say it seems more fitting that it is when a group of people conspire to manipulate or con a target. The target generally is the public.

A theory in this context is someone stating what they believe MIGHT have happened based upon probabilities and the "evidence" they have collected. I put evidence into quotes because in this day we see a lot of people treating speculation as evidence. Speculation is a guess, a hypothesis, and in this case a theory. So when speculation is pushed as truth it is much like saying "See my theory is true, and as my evidence look at all of these other theories". It doesn't work. Speculation is not proof. However, that does not mean a theory is not true or doesn't have merit. It also doesn't mean it IS true. It is a possibility that someone is considering. There is actually nothing wrong with them. It is a guess. Preferably an informed one. People bash conspiracy theorists as though they are spreading conspiracy FACTs when in fact a theory is just a guess, and most theorists know this.

When you are presented with a situation and you can't find definitive evidence such as let's say in the 9/11 event where the alleged terrorists on the plane are now incinerated in their own plot. The government pieces together what they can and presents an explanation. Without the bodies and a lot of the evidence that explanation is actually a theory. So in reality every explanation we have for 9/11 is technically a conspiracy theory, INCLUDING the official story.

Source: The Odyssey Online

People have been conditioned to a knee jerk mental reaction when they hear the term conspiracy theory. They immediately cringe and turn away. We've been conditioned that when we hear those two words together we treat any further discussion in that area as though the person speaking it has leprosy and we must avoid them or our noses will rot away. This knee jerk reaction is bad. Resist it. It is a sure sign of how we have been manipulated.

That is not to say we should believe conspiracy theories. We should approach them as we would any speculation, hypothesis, and theory (not the scientific kind). Ask questions, be skeptical, and use your head. Yet keep an open mind as there could be something there. In some cases the entire theory may not be true, but there could be still valuable information there that leads you or someone else to form a different one. This is part of how we as humans seek understanding. It is healthy. It becomes unhealthy when we blindly believe a thing and REFUSE to listen to or consider challenge, or when we BLINDLY refuse to even listen to something because we think it is a "conspiracy theory".

This was a very large build up to the flat earth conspiracy theory. I personally do not believe this theory, but I believe just as any other discussion that civility and mutual respect are deserved of all people until they attack or belittle you. A willingness to question is a good thing. Yet we must use reason no matter which side of the theory (and there can often be more than two) you happen to find yourself on.

Source: A More Beautiful Question

Flat Earth

I've read many posts here and other places about flat Earth. I've watched numerous videos on both sides about flat Earth. There are quite a few problems with the flat earth theory. It actually shouldn't take long for me to explain some of them that really pop out at me.

Circumnavigation

We can and have circumnavigated the globe. This is something you yourself can do to prove/disprove this provided you have the means or can come up with the means. This is the idea that if I start traveling West in a straight line that eventually I will have wrapped around the globe and come walking up to that same point from the East.

We have things that do this every day. Though they do it beyond our atmosphere. They are called satellites. If they are geosynchronous this is not the case, but not all satellites are geosynchronous and you can actually watch them pass across the sky and rise from the other side.

Source: Teachers

Source: www.kingswells.biz

Now a flat earth map will typically have a large disc shaped map that isn't even a Mercator projection and will show different circles passing above this disk. This is how they explain the sun, the moon, and now the satellites. That each of these things is moving in a circular pattern above this disc.

This is more challenging to refute with man made satellites in non-geosynchronous orbit because they do tend to follow the same pattern. Yes, it could be done. Yet there is an easier way to dispute this.

The Sun and the Moon

If the moon were running in a circular pattern you would expect it to rise and disappear at the exact same spots on the horizon every day/night/ In fact if this were in fact a circle it would not ARC overhead at all. It would be an angle from where you stand to where it is on that disk. So in most parts of the world it would not appear to pass overhead at all. It would instead be off in the distance in the air but somewhere near the horizon rather than above. Appearing above would actually only work for anyone standing directly below the path of that circle. This is NOT what we see. No matter where on earth you go the sun does indeed appear to pass overhead. It may rise and set at slightly different points on the horizon but it still passes overhead perceptually ANYWHERE on earth.

Source: A Plane not a Planet

Source: Planet X News

Distances

One of the easiest ways to dispute the flat earth map is simply by measuring. Consider the circumnavigation point above. An argument against that would likely be that the person is just heading in a circle and they are lying. Anyone that circumnavigates the globe is in a gradual left or right handed turn and apparently loses the ability to walk in a straight line. They are all conspiring. Yet, there is nothing to stop any of us from attempting circumnavigation. Do we the moment we decide we are going to test this suddenly become conspirators and lose our free will?

The disc shape maps have greatly distorted distances. We can measure from different points A to B between the world and the distances on such a map will be inaccurate based upon any form of travel you wish to take. Distance Traveled = Velocity * Time. You see at a known velocity we can take how long it took us to travel in a straight line and know what distance we covered. So in traveling on a disc map what you will find is the further from the equator you get the more distorted the distances become. The closer towards the north pole you get the shorter the distances. People in parts of Canada in flat earth should be able to travel across the entire northern part of their country in an hour or so. As you go towards the antarctic region on that map the distances are distorted in the other direction. The amount of time to cross distances there would be much larger than they end up being in reality.

Source: The Flat Earth Society

The reason? The disc map doesn't work. It is not accurate. So if you are a proponent of flat earth and you are using that map it is flawed. It needs to go away.

Revisiting Circumnavigation

Now let's go back to circumnavigation. Let's assume I am not incompetent and can indeed travel in a straight line without being compelled to be in a left or right turn the entire way.

If I travel either west or east and I appear coming the other direction back to my starting point those that believe I am a conspirator might say I walked that direction until I was no longer visible (not wondering why I was no longer visible) and that somewhere beyond the LINE of sight I changed course and circled around. That wonderful equation Distance = Velocity * Time kicks in here. Unless you believe I am conspiring and am in secret a super human that can move at amazing speeds when you can't see me then this doesn't pan out as the distance I'd need to cover would be greater and I'd have to move at a tremendous speed to pull it off. Now the obvious thing someone might say is "you only went until we couldn't see you and then you circled around". Yet, nothing is stopping you from following me, monitoring me, etc.

Magical Thinking

Flat Earth requires magical thinking to support it if you really get down to it. It works only if you suspend parts of reality and choose to ignore them. There have been people providing very compelling measurements and videos showing geometry and how to prove the curvature of the Earth, yet these are ignored as people continue to hold onto the concept of Flat Earth like a Badger in a Death grip. It has you in it's mouth and it won't let go until you are dead. Or perhaps the concept of putting a shiny thing in a hole having the monkey reach in for it and when it closes its hand it is too wide now to get out so it stands their stuck rather than opening its hand and dropping the shiny object. In this case the shiny object is the Flat Earth Hypothesis.