Flat Earthers.

[Dudeman247.]

That's precisely correct. I've asked these people what would they want as evidence and the only singular answer was to go to the moon themselves. Guess who won't believe them. A thousand years from now, we probably would still be limited to photos and video and you know where that would go.

I've asked the same "what evidence would make you believe question" and the answer that a I have received several times was that no amount of evidence would make me (them) believe.

 

[Steven]

 

[Steven]

 

[Zeus-cat]

It might surprise some people that much of what is accepted as fact, is actually theory.

For example, atoms are theoretical. No one has ever seen an atom. We have lots of evidence, including scanning tunneling microscopy images...but the image on an STM screen showing a regular arrangement of some sort is no more a collection of atoms than a TV screen showing <pick your favorite actor> is actually <that actor>. (BTW if you haven't seen the IBM gallery of STM images, take a look sometime at https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/vintage/vintage_4506VV3181.html)

Of course, no sane scientist disbelieves in atoms. They're the only way we've found that can explain the behavior of matter. But (theoretically ) if some super-brilliant scientist came up with an alternative that could explain, not only everything we've seen that points to atoms, but also the stuff that's still a bit fluffy or doesn't have quite enough evidence, the new theory would eventually be accepted (after the diehard atom-ists died off )

And no, "flat Earth" is not a theory. It is not even an hypothesis. An initial hypothesis is supposed to explain most/all the observations that have already been made. Flat Earth doesn't.

Best -- Terry
...who taught atomic theory and other stuff for 42 years. To students, most of whom didn't want to learn it...

And to top it off, even gravity is a theory. We can predict with high accuracy how objects will behave in a gravitational field, but we don't know what causes that field.

 

[Jimmy]

I was just watching an episode of Ancient Aliens that told me the Earth is hollow. Now I don't know who to believe any more. I don't think a flat / hollow earth would really have room to house the reptilian shadow government.

Reptilian shadow government? I thought crab people were running the show.

 

[prfesser]

I've asked the same "what evidence would make you believe question" and the answer that a I have received several times was that no amount of evidence would make me (them) believe.

Some years ago there was a televised debate on evolution between a well-known scientist and another well-known personality. The final question was "What would make you change your mind?" Scientist: "evidence". Personality: "nothing".

Best -- Terry
"I've made up my mind! Don't try to muddy the issue with facts and evidence!"

 

[Jimmy]

Some years ago there was a televised debate on evolution between a well-known scientist and another well-known personality. The final question was "What would make you change your mind?" Scientist: "evidence". Personality: "nothing".

Best -- Terry
"I've made up my mind! Don't try to muddy the issue with facts and evidence!"

I know the debate that you are referring to. When a person’s income depends on telling a lie then the truth doesn’t matter.

 

[steveh.jae]

Totally true,

Quantum mechanics is a theory that explains observed behavior quite well. Hence it still holds until somebody comes up with a unified theory of the universe that explains everything.

Kurt

42

 

[icyclops]

Sorry, I have no patience for stupidity....

 

[Mugs914]

I know, right??? Crazy Porsche people....

 

[boomtube-mk2]

Sorry, I have no patience for stupidity....

Patience is not a virtue; Patience is the fifth Halliwell sister.

Cats are proof that the Earth is not flat, for if it were, they would have long since pushed everything over the edge.

 

[tab28682]

I find that beliefs in things like a flat earth and the Moon landing hoax and similar nonsense gives me a very easy pass/fail intelligence test. I no longer have to pay any attention to what they think other than for entertainment value.

The cat observation must be true, as it has been posted at least 5 times in this thread.....

 

[Jimmy]

I heard of a recent study that about 25 percent of people younger than 30 think that the moon landings were staged. My confidence in human intelligence is severely shaken.

 

[new2hpr]

I know, right??? Crazy Porsche people....

And Subaru.. and Volkswagen... old BMW motorcycles. Some Ferraris, old racing MB, Alfas... even some tanks.

 

[Mugs914]

And some subs, Napier Sabres (Hawker Typhoons and Tempests), old BRM race cars, most light aircraft these days...

I just figured it was best to hit on my own crowd. I'm most familiar with their brand of crazy... (And it is often VERY real)

 

[user 13]

I heard of a recent study that about 25 percent of people younger than 30 think that the moon landings were staged. My confidence in human intelligence is severely shaken.

Looks like "Idiocracy" called it.

 

[Marc_G]

Looks like "Idiocracy" called it.

Idiocracy was supposed to take hundreds of years. We've accomplished it in just a decade. USA! USA!

 

[rocket_troy]

Hitchens once famously stated that: “What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.”

Whereas Brandolini countered with “The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than that required to produce it.”

Unfortunately, social media behaviour has banished the former into the Gulags of trivial history whereas 2nd has almost been indoctrinated into law

 

[boomtube-mk2]

Looks like "Idiocracy" called it.

"The Marching Morons" 1951 short story by Cyril M. Kornbluth.

 

[Antares JS]

Remember before losing hope entirely that idiots are not a new thing. Scientist and Oxford professor Roger Bacon lamented in the 13th century that the greatest obstacles to transmission of truth were "uninstructed popular opinion" and "long-standing but erroneous custom."

 

[Steven]

Remember before losing hope entirely that idiots are not a new thing. Scientist and Oxford professor Roger Bacon lamented in the 13th century that the greatest obstacles to transmission of truth were "uninstructed popular opinion" and "long-standing but erroneous custom."

You mean everything isn't 'fake'? Uh oh.

 

[dr wogz]

I reject your / the common reality, and will substitute my own..

 

[Steven]

 

[Steven]

 

[Steven]

 

[icyclops]

Remember before losing hope entirely that idiots are not a new thing. Scientist and Oxford professor Roger Bacon lamented in the 13th century that the greatest obstacles to transmission of truth were "uninstructed popular opinion" and "long-standing but erroneous custom."

Yup...even with modern science you can‘t cure stupid....

 

[icyclops]

It might surprise some people that much of what is accepted as fact, is actually theory.

For example, atoms are theoretical. No one has ever seen an atom. We have lots of evidence, including scanning tunneling microscopy images...but the image on an STM screen showing a regular arrangement of some sort is no more a collection of atoms than a TV screen showing <pick your favorite actor> is actually <that actor>. (BTW if you haven't seen the IBM gallery of STM images, take a look sometime at https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/vintage/vintage_4506VV3181.html)

Of course, no sane scientist disbelieves in atoms. They're the only way we've found that can explain the behavior of matter. But (theoretically ) if some super-brilliant scientist came up with an alternative that could explain, not only everything we've seen that points to atoms, but also the stuff that's still a bit fluffy or doesn't have quite enough evidence, the new theory would eventually be accepted (after the diehard atom-ists died off )

And no, "flat Earth" is not a theory. It is not even an hypothesis. An initial hypothesis is supposed to explain most/all the observations that have already been made. Flat Earth doesn't.

Best -- Terry
...who taught atomic theory and other stuff for 42 years. To students, most of whom didn't want to learn it...

Google strontium atom and see that they captured the light emitted from one.....no you can’t see it using a light microscope, but you can definitely prove it’s there by seeing emittions. Gravity and electromagnetic forces are another thing....

After all, what we commonly see is light bouncing off of materials....if it quacks like a duck, it must be a....dog.

 

[Cape Byron]

View attachment 455445

I know, right??? Crazy Porsche people....

And Chevy Corvairs. Crazy Corvair people.

PS: If anyone in Oz has a Corvair station wagon going cheap...

 

[augendoc]

Almost 50 years ago a hoax was played on the editors and readers of a San Diego newspaper. At the time there was (and still is) a very intelligent and robust scientific community in residence in San Diego. One of them wrote a letter to the editor of the paper expressing their concern about the possible damage that could be done to the planet by unrestricted space exploration. Another scientist, who was in on the joke, responded with another letter in the affirmative and the two scientists were allowed to argue and counter argue in alternating letters to the editor about these risks, somewhat like a facebook amplification. The gist of the argument went something like this:

we all know that an object placed sufficiently far enough away from earth in orbit will remain in orbit for potentially a long time. and if in a geosynchronous orbit it will appear to hover in one place.

now imagine if this object was a rolled up rubber hose of very very long length. While in orbit, one end of the hose could be lowered toward earth and the other end extended farther into space such that the center of gravity of this extended hose remains at the exact point needed to maintain geosynchronous orbit And therefore this long hose could be made to stay in one place in this orbit.

now if the hose is sufficiently long enough, one end could extend well into the earth’s atmosphere while the other end would be way out in the vacuum of space.

The danger then comes if someone opens the nozzle on the hose such that both ends of the hose are open. The vacuum of space at the farthest end of the hose would suck out all the air at the other end of the hose. And if we let this go on long enough, all the earth‘s atmosphere would be sucked out into outer space and the earth would become uninhabitable and we would all die.

Other readers wrote in about their concerns regarding this happening, and things accelerated.

It was finally at this point, i am told, that the editors of the paper figured out that they had been hoaxed and stopped publishing all further letters from the two scientists. I dont know if there was a retraction or any acknowledgment they had been hoaxed. I would have loved to see the original exchange and i wonder where it would have gone had the scientists been allowed to keep going.

This is almost as good as the concerns about that dangerous chemical dihydrogen oxide that were whipped up in a similar fashion probably about the same time. Maybe it was the same two scientists

 

[Jimmy]

Almost 50 years ago a hoax was played on the editors and readers of a San Diego newspaper. At the time there was (and still is) a very intelligent and robust scientific community in residence in San Diego. One of them wrote a letter to the editor of the paper expressing their concern about the possible damage that could be done to the planet by unrestricted space exploration. Another scientist, who was in on the joke, responded with another letter in the affirmative and the two scientists were allowed to argue and counter argue in alternating letters to the editor about these risks, somewhat like a facebook amplification. The gist of the argument went something like this:

we all know that an object placed sufficiently far enough away from earth in orbit will remain in orbit for potentially a long time. and if in a geosynchronous orbit it will appear to hover in one place.

now imagine if this object was a rolled up rubber hose of very very long length. While in orbit, one end of the hose could be lowered toward earth and the other end extended farther into space such that the center of gravity of this extended hose remains at the exact point needed to maintain geosynchronous orbit And therefore this long hose could be made to stay in one place in this orbit.

now if the hose is sufficiently long enough, one end could extend well into the earth’s atmosphere while the other end would be way out in the vacuum of space.

The danger then comes if someone opens the nozzle on the hose such that both ends of the hose are open. The vacuum of space at the farthest end of the hose would suck out all the air at the other end of the hose. And if we let this go on long enough, all the earth‘s atmosphere would be sucked out into outer space and the earth would become uninhabitable and we would all die.

Other readers wrote in about their concerns regarding this happening, and things accelerated.

It was finally at this point, i am told, that the editors of the paper figured out that they had been hoaxed and stopped publishing all further letters from the two scientists. I dont know if there was a retraction or any acknowledgment they had been hoaxed. I would have loved to see the original exchange and i wonder where it would have gone had the scientists been allowed to keep going.

This is almost as good as the concerns about that dangerous chemical dihydrogen oxide that were whipped up in a similar fashion probably about the same time. Maybe it was the same two scientists

Thanks for the belly laugh!