"Flat Earth" photo, and why it's so hard to debunk pseudoscience

[WmRMeyers]

This was a fascinating, well-thought-out, and well-researched article. It was also chock full of hubris. I'm not saying I believe in these strange conspiracy theories, but just because you've been told that they are false by some self-righteous scientist on TV doesn't mean you should immediately discount it either. I've learned over my many years to be comfortable with the phrase "I don't know." Is the Earth flat? I doubt it, but I've never been in orbit to see for myself. Therefore, "I don't know." Was the moon landing faked? Probably not, but I haven't been to the moon, OR seen evidence of the landing through a telescope. Therefore, "I don't know."

To be absolutely and supremely confident about something you haven't actually witnessed with your own eyes is simply the OTHER extreme from the wild-eyed conspiracy nuts. It makes a person into a wild-eyed conspiracy hater, and no better than the people they ridicule.

...Just a thought to consider.

Cybersam

What makes you think you have to go into orbit to figure out if the world is flat or not? As for the moon landing, I've talked to Michael Collins, who said he was in orbit around the moon. I believe him. He commented to me about how lonely it was up there, waiting to find out if the ascent stage would work. I've only been about half-way around the world, but you can see the curvature if your aircraft flies high enough. Or you can walk across the country (any county, pretty much) and watch the mountains spring up in front of you, or shrink down behind you. And you can model a globe with a basket ball and a match stick, and flat earth with a table and a match stick. I'm not particularly absolutely supremely confident about much of anything, though I do like to check up on folks who make absolute statements about such things. Heck, they may even be right, but I'm probably not going to take their word for it unless I know something about them.

Bill