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posted by mrpg on Saturday May 05 2018, @05:41PM   Printer-friendly
from the not-flat-or-round-it-is-a-line dept.

Interesting bit to be found at The Conversation:

Speakers recently flew in from around (or perhaps, across?) the earth for a three-day event held in Birmingham: the UK's first ever public Flat Earth Convention. It was well attended, and wasn't just three days of speeches and YouTube clips (though, granted, there was a lot of this). There was also a lot of team-building, networking, debating, workshops – and scientific experiments.

Yes, flat earthers do seem to place a lot of emphasis and priority on scientific methods and, in particular, on observable facts. The weekend in no small part revolved around discussing and debating science, with lots of time spent running, planning, and reporting on the latest set of flat earth experiments and models. Indeed, as one presenter noted early on, flat earthers try to "look for multiple, verifiable evidence" and advised attendees to "always do your own research and accept you might be wrong".

While flat earthers seem to trust and support scientific methods, what they don't trust is scientists, and the established relationships between "power" and "knowledge". This relationship between power and knowledge has long been theorised by sociologists. By exploring this relationship, we can begin to understand why there is a swelling resurgence of flat earthers.


Original Submission

Interestingly enough, the author delves into philosophy, particularly the work of Michel Foucault, who, for those not familiar with him, traced the relations between knowledge and power, especially in The Archaeology of Knowledge.

In the 21st century, we are witnessing another important shift in both power and knowledge due to factors that include the increased public platforms afforded by social media. Knowledge is no longer centrally controlled and – as has been pointed out in the wake of Brexit – the age of the expert may be passing. Now, everybody has the power to create and share content. When Michael Gove, a leading proponent of Brexit, proclaimed: "I think the people of this country have had enough of experts", it would seem that he, in many ways, meant it.

Ah, that explains so much beyond Brexit! Alternative Knowledge!

And for those who will never read the entire article, bit of the take-away:

In many ways, a public meeting of flat earthers is a product and sign of our time; a reflection of our increasing distrust in scientific institutions, and the moves by power-holding institutions towards populism and emotions. In much the same way that Foucault reflected on what social outcasts could reveal about our social systems, there is a lot flat earthers can reveal to us about the current changing relationship between power and knowledge. And judging by the success of this UK event – and the large conventions planned in Canada and America this year – it seems the flat earth is going to be around for a while yet.

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 05 2018, @06:07PM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 05 2018, @06:07PM (#676099)

    So flat ocean theory? Gotta get on that naming committee they're just confusing everyone.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 05 2018, @07:11PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 05 2018, @07:11PM (#676127)

    The proof is in the center of washington dc. The washington monument is a giant sundial and the reflecting pond the perfectly flat surface needed for accurate measurement. Reflecting pond is made of what?

    • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 06 2018, @12:36AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 06 2018, @12:36AM (#676205)

      If it's DC, I'm gonna guess "bullshit"?

    • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Sunday May 06 2018, @06:27AM (2 children)

      by maxwell demon (1608) on Sunday May 06 2018, @06:27AM (#676277) Journal

      Except that you don't need a perfectly flat surface. It doesn't really matter how the surface your shadow falls on is shaped as long as the shadow actually falls on it (although if you want to have equidistant marks, you should use a cylinder-shaped surface with the cylinder axis parallel to the rotation axis of Earth).

      The fact that usually (but not always!) flat surfaces are used is just that flat surfaces are the easiest to make, and the easiest to read off.

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 06 2018, @08:59AM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 06 2018, @08:59AM (#676305)

        If you want to accurately measure the length of the shadow its going to need to fall on a flat surface, and there is no surface flatter than a still liquid.

        • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 06 2018, @11:29AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 06 2018, @11:29AM (#676336)

          You haven't seen my girlfriend's chest.