LINK Flat Earthers, and the Rise of Science Denial in America | Opinion
"Science denial is too dangerous to ignore. You might think that Flat Earth isn't harming anyone, but they had sessions on how to recruit new members, including children. And, by their own report, they are growing fast. They've recently recruited some prominent celebrities like Kyrie Irving (before he recanted) and Wilson Chandler. There are Flat Earth "meet up" groups in many cities, including Boston. Just before the convention in Denver, someone funded a billboard.
My other concern, based on my academic research, is that all science deniers use roughly the same reasoning strategy. Belief in conspiracy theories, cherry picking evidence, championing their own experts. These are also the tactics used by deniers of evolution, climate change, and the recent spate of anti-vaxx. How many more years before the Flat Earthers are running for school board, asking physics teachers to "teach the controversy," just as Intelligent Designers did not too many years back?
If we can understand science denial in its most elemental form, might we not be able to make progress against all of it at once? For those of us who care about science, it is important to fight back against science denial in whatever form it arises.
But we must do it in the right way.
As I argue in The Scientific Attitude, we need to stop merely pointing to the successes of science and reclaim the notion of uncertainty as a strength rather than a weakness of scientific reasoning. No matter how good the evidence, science cannot "prove" that climate change is real. Or that vaccines are safe. Or even that the Earth is round. That is just not how inductive reasoning works.
What scientists can do, however, is say much more than they do about the importance of likelihood and probability, to puncture the myth that until we have proof, any theory is just as good as any other. Scientific beliefs are not based on certainty but on "warrant"—on justification given the evidence. To say that the evidence for anthropogenic global warming has hit the "five-sigma" level, which means that there is only a one in a million chance of a false positive, is something less than certainty. But who could deny that this is enough for rational belief? When certainty is the standard, science deniers may feel justified in holding out for proof. So let's explain to them that this is not how science works. That certainty is an irrational standard for empirical belief.
When a scientist looks for evidence, and it shows that his or her theory is wrong, this cannot just be ignored. If the problem gets bad enough, the theory must be changed or perhaps even abandoned, else one is no longer really a scientist. Yet I do not believe that this is a matter of method or logic (as Karl Popper and other philosophers have long argued,) but of values. One of the reasons that science works as well as it does is that—as opposed to ideology—it does NOT pretend that it has all the answers. It is open to new ideas, but also insists that these must be rigorously tested. In science there is a community standard to enforce this, based on data sharing, peer review, and replication. The scientific attitude exists not just in the hearts of individual scientists, but as a group ethos that guides empirical inquiry in a rational way. But how many of the lay public know this?"
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11 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Flat earthers, pseudoscience, you know it's one thing to be ignorant of the facts,but you have to stoop to a whole new level of dishonesty to deny what has been proven to be true to promote your propaganda and personal beliefs. False information is worse than ignorance because it blinds true definition.
Ritchie
Level 6
June 15, 2019
1
You left out nearly all the science denying engaged in by the lefters: immigration, gun control, climate change, health care reform, nuclear power, same sex marriage, trans-issues, floride, homeopathy, GMOs,...
Even when confronted with clear evidence they are basing their ideas upon false and incomplete facts and understanding, the lefters are just as reluctant to learn how they are wrong, as the righters are.
The current insanity screaming from the left that men and women are EXACTLY the same is having significant negative impact on science research and tech development.
Fired for truth:
[newsweek.com]
Cern scientist suspended for telling the truth
[phys.org]
FYI::: there are many lefters in the flatt earth camp.
===
Science denial knows no political bounds:::
[phys.org]
JacarC
Level 8
June 2, 2019
0
Flat earth is an offshoot of religion, plain and simple! We have maps that have four corners but only in various scriptures from around the world do we get ideas of a flat earth. Why? It was because nobody knew jack. Science came along and some still don't know. What controversy? Videos on You Tube and other sites make money and they gather followers. Why? It's because the ones doing the posts are making money. None of this has anything to do with science.
DenoPenno
Level 9
May 16, 2019
2
There have been 3 times on this website where flat earthers have barfed their opinions on the group.
I started wondering, what was their motivation?
The first attack, (It really came off as an attack.), Seemed odd. It was a user named Tracyanarchist. Something was off in her attack. It wasn't just the logic.
Her profile pic. Was a lady in her 60s sitting with her dogs. The rate of her responses seemed off. She would attack and then be gone for days. Didn't seem like a retired person's schedule. Also, her answers didn't always correlate with the conversation very well.
The point is, I have the feeling it wasn't a little old lady, nor a bored prankster.
2 groups have a motive for flat Earth. The religious and the Russians.
Media is King. Russians use it to their advantage. People who are into alternative energy are harmful to Russia. Russia is an exporter of oil. Since Stalin, the Russians have historically tried to start conspiracies in the U.S.. It began with hiding Hitler's body.
The religious robots also have a need to convince people the Earth is flat. Christ and Mohamid believed the world was flat. According to their beliefs God mad a flat Earth with an ocean for the upper sky.
Anyway, I don't know who is pushing their crap, bit I agree, it is a concern.
Heathenman
Level 7
May 15, 2019
2
The Russians saved the world from the Nazi menace and we created a space program with their German scientists.
Islamic "science."
@WilliamCharles Vernon von braun correct?
Yes. Operation Paperclip brought in quite a few.
And...
@WilliamCharles Von Braun's entire team of scientists 23 in all if I remember correctly.
I posted the same article this morning. The flat earthers are a very small group and can really be dismissed as cranks. More dangerous are the climate change deniers. Especially when they are in positions of authority..
I liked the authors comment. "Not all christians are flat earthers but nearly all flat earthers are christians" .
Moravian
Level 8
May 15, 2019
3
Some of the same ones pushing a 6000 year old Earth because of some bible mumbo-jumbo.
What do you mean the we can't prove that the Earth is round?!!!!!
starwatcher-al
Level 7
May 15, 2019
1
Still, having 9/11 thrown in there always catches my eye. I'd love to see scientific demonstrations of the physics of 9/11.
WilliamCharles
Level 8
May 15, 2019
0
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