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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.
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.
(Score: 2) by legont on Sunday May 06 2018, @05:23AM (3 children)
Actually, it's not true. By definition, horizon is on the eye level of an observer. Hence any observer on an elevated point over the ocean, such as a top of a mast or on balloon, will see the ocean all around higher than the ocean under her. It will look curved all right but the opposite of what you imagine. It feels like one is inside of a very big bowl. That's simple math fact and it is true regardless of what the real curvature of the earth is. Anybody who "sees" that ocean is round is simply brainwashed by the science class at elementary school.
Yes, once a certain height is archived, different effects can be observed, but most people claim they see a round earth from much lower points, which is BS. This BS is exactly what flat earthers try to fight.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Sunday May 06 2018, @12:00PM (1 child)
Interesting. There is a road from Adelaide to Alice Springs in Australia that is so flat for about 1000km that when you drive along it, after a while you would swear that you are at the bottom of a very shallow valley. It seems to curve up slightly in the distance both ahead and behind the car, but you never drove over a hill, and you never reach the rise that you can see in the distance.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by legont on Sunday May 06 2018, @06:15PM
Yes, the effect is very real in many applications. For example, this illusion is one of the reasons novice pilots underestimate the glide path to a safe landing point.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Immerman on Sunday May 06 2018, @03:43PM
Nope. The horizon is defined as the apparent boundary between earth and sky, and is thus coimpetely location dependent - the "horizon indicator" on a plane would indicate eye level, but is actually only a crude approximation of the true horizon.
On a an infinite flat plane the eye level of the observer will never intersect plane they're on, but the two parallel planes will appear to converge at infinity as the distance between them scales to nothing in the distance. So effectively, yes, the horizon would be at eye level.
Standing in the bottom of a large bowl, the horizon will be *above* eye level.
And on a curved surface such as smooth seas of very "flat" plains, the ground will actually fall away from the observer's eye level, faster (on Earth) than distance scaling shrinks that measurement. The "bowl" illusion is because the brain *assumes* the horizon is at eye level, when in fact it's several degrees below level in every direction - a fact which you could easily verify with a sighting-scope and bubble level on sufficiently calm seas.