Is leveling serious?

A flat model of the earth depicts Antarctica as an ice wall around a disk-shaped earth. (? Creative commons1.0 generic/trekky0623) Editor's note: The original text of this article was written by Natalie Wolchover and published in Life Science on June 26th, 20 12. The staff of Living Science reissued the new version on May 30th, 201July.

Members of the Flat Earth Association claim to believe that the earth is flat. When walking on the surface of the planet, it looks and feels flat, so they think all the evidence is the opposite, such as satellite photos of the earth as a sphere, and the fabrication of the "Earth Circle Conspiracy" planned by institutions such as NASA.

The idea that the earth is flat is described as the ultimate conspiracy theory. According to the leader of the Flat Land Association, since 2009, the team of the association has increased by 200 people every year (mainly Americans and Britons). Judging from the fact that Pingdi people put a lot of energy into their websites to enrich their theories, and firmly defended their views in media interviews and Twitter, it seems that these people really believe that the earth is flat.

But in the 2 1 century, will they be serious? If so, how is this psychologically possible? "

"Through a Flat Indigenous Eye" "First of all, a short journey of a flat indigenous worldview: when writing down the concrete evidence bucket that the earth is spherical, they can easily accept what some people will call an absurd proposition laundry list. The leading flat earth theory holds that the earth is a disk with the Arctic Circle as the center and Antarctica as the edge, and it is an ice wall 150 feet high. They said that NASA staff should protect the ice wall and prevent people from climbing off the ice tray. (Consistent with their suspicion of NASA, Nathan Thompson, a famous conspiracy theorist, recently approached a man who claimed to be a NASA employee of Starbucks in mid-May, 2065438+2007. In a video on YouTube, Thompson, the founder of the official "Earth and Earth" discussion page, shouted that he had proof that the earth was flat-obviously, an astronaut drowned as evidence-and NASA was "lying". )

The explanation of the earth's day-night cycle is to assume that the sun and the moon are 32-mile (565,438+0 km) spheres, moving on a circle 3,000 miles (4,828 km) above the earth's plane. Like spotlights, these celestial bodies illuminate different parts of the earth in a 24-hour cycle. Flat earth people believe that there must be an invisible "anti-moon" to cover the moon during the eclipse.

In addition, they say that gravity is an illusion. The object will not accelerate downward; On the contrary, driven by a mysterious force called dark energy, the earth's disk accelerates upward at a speed of 32 feet per second (9.8 meters per second). At present, people on the ground are divided on whether Einstein's theory of relativity allows the earth to accelerate infinitely without exceeding the speed of light. (Einstein's law obviously exists in another version of reality. )

As for what is under the surface of the earth, it is unknown, but most flat people think it is composed of "rocks", and there is a conspiracy theory: flat people think that the photos of the earth are processed by photography; GPS devices are assembled to make pilots think that they are flying in a straight line around a sphere, but in fact they are flying in a circle around a disk. The motives of countries around the world to conceal the true shape of the earth have not yet been ascertained, but the flat earth people think that this is probably a financial problem. "In short, logically speaking, the cost of forging a space program is much lower than actually owning one, so those who benefit from the funds obtained by NASA and other space agencies," spe explained on the FAQ page of FlatEarter website. "Who believes that the earth is flat?"

"Believers in Flat Earth have not fallen into the secret corner of the universe: many celebrities speak out for their beliefs. For example, on October 25th, 2016,65438/kloc-0, rapper Bobby Ray Simmons Jr. released a song called "flexible flat cable". In this song, he gave a lecture to the astrophysicist Neil Tai Sen about the sphericity of the planet. B, O.B. is sure that the earth is flat. A day ago, the rapper wrote on Twitter: "No matter how high your altitude is. . . The horizon is always flush with the eyes. . . Sorry, class. . . I don't want to believe it either.

And then Shaq. In the podcast broadcast on February 27th, 20 17, shaquille o'neal, a former NBA player, announced that our planet is flat. He said that when he drove from Florida to California, "it was flat for me." Shaq later said that he was only joking. [5] Scientifically refute Shaq's view that the earth is flat]

Some believers become creative in the process of exploring the flat planet: conspiracy theorist D.Marble published an article on YouTube on May 1 2007, saying that he took a level on the flight from Charlotte, North Carolina to Seattle, Washington, to see if the nose of the plane would tilt to "compensate" the curvature of the earth, he said. In the video, he said: "I recorded the time interval of 23 minutes and 45 seconds. According to these measurements, this means that the plane flew slightly more than 203 miles. According to the heliocentric model given by spherics, this should lead to the compensation of 5-mile curvature. As you will see, there is no measurable compensation for curvature. " The bubble at his level stays in the center, which he says proves that the earth is flat. )

Zetic method This theory follows a way of thinking called Zetic method, a method to replace scientific method, which was invented by a plane geotechnical engineer in19th century, in which sensory observation is dominant. "In a broad sense, this method places great emphasis on reconciling empiricism and rationalism, and makes logical deduction based on empirical data," Michael Wilmore, an Irishman, vice chairman of the Flat Earth Association, told Little Secrets of Life. In Zeta astronomy, the view that the earth is flat leads to the inference that the earth must be flat; Anti-moon, NASA conspiracy and everything else are just how to rationalize in practice.

These details make Pingrenren's theory so ingenious and absurd that it sounds like a joke, but many of its supporters really think it is a more reasonable astronomical model than textbooks. In short, they are not joking. Wilmore said: "50 amazing facts about the earth,

""Faith and sincerity are a common problem. "If I had to guess, I might say that at least some of our members regard the theory of flat society and peace as an epistemological practice, whether as a criticism of scientific methods or as a kind of" solipsism for beginners ". Some people may find the certificate hanging on their wall a little funny. In other words, I know many members, and I totally believe in their beliefs.

Wilmore considers himself a true believer. He said, "My own belief is the result of philosophical reflection, and it is also a lot of data that I have personally observed. I am still sorting out these data. Strangely enough, Wilmore and Daniel Shenton, a 35-year-old Virginia-born Londoner and president of the association, think that the evidence of global warming is conclusive, although most of the evidence comes from satellite data collected by NASA, the central figure in the "conspiracy around the earth". They also accept the theory of evolution and most other mainstream scientific principles.

Conspiracy Theory Psychology Although their belief system seems incredible, experts are not surprised. Karen Douglas, a psychologist who studies conspiracy theory psychology at the University of Kent in England, said: "In my opinion, these people generally think that the earth is flat." . Douglas told Life Science: "I don't see any reason for them to come up with this idea.

She said that all conspiracy theories have a basic theme: they put forward an alternative theory about important issues or events, and (often) give vague explanations about why someone wants to cover up "real" events. The most attractive thing is that they explain a big event, but usually they don't involve details. "She said that a lot of power lies in their ambiguity.

Conspiracy theorists insist on the confident way of their own stories, which makes this story particularly attractive. After all, people on the plains believe that the earth is flat and round more firmly than most people (perhaps because the rest of us think we have nothing to prove). "If you are facing a minority view, it is put forward in a wise and seemingly insightful way. When supporters do not deviate from these powerful views they have, they may be very influential. Douglas said: "We call it the influence of a few people."

'' '。 On March 5th, 20 14, a study published on the Internet by Eric Oliver and Tom Wood, political scientists at the University of Chicago, found that about half of Americans agree with at least one conspiracy theory, ranging from thinking that 9/ 1 1 is an internal work to Kennedy's conspiracy. "Many people are willing to believe many viewpoints that directly contradict the narrative of mainstream culture," Oliver told Life Science. He said that the belief in conspiracy theory stems from human's perceptual tendency to invisible forces, which is called magical thinking. [The first 10 unexplained phenomenon]

But the flat grounding device is not completely suitable for this general picture. Most conspiracy theorists use many fringe theories, even contradictory theories. At the same time, the only thing a flat man can hang up is the shape of the earth. Oliver wrote in an email: "If they are like other conspiracy theorists, they should show a tendency to believe in many magical ideas, such as UFOs, especially ghosts, demons or other invisible and intentional forces." It doesn't sound like this, which makes them look abnormal compared with most Americans who believe in conspiracy theories.

Editor's Note: This article was first published on 20 12126, and then updated on May 30, 20 17.