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Is Flat Earthism Scientific?
As it happens, flat Earthism is a great example of how the scientific method should work
There is no reliable data on precisely how many people around the globe believe that, contrary to conventional teaching, the Earth is in reality a flat disc. Estimates by pollsters in various countries suggest the number is now in the tens of millions, but the true figure could reach the hundreds of millions.
This is quite an astonishing revelation. We live in the most technologically sophisticated age our species has ever known. Reliable information is available at our fingertips thanks to the wonders of the Internet. More people receive at least secondary-level education than ever before in history. And yet millions now believe in a Flat Earth. As we depend on the scientific method for literally every single aspect of our lives, how can this dichotomy have come into existence? How can we depend so much on science while so few people have even the vaguest notion of what “science” really is?
As the SARS-CoV2 epidemic clearly revealed, many people are happy to chant “follow the science” as the latter-day version of “have faith in god’s plan.” Few seem aware that the reproducibility crisis in science means that at least 90% of published research is either plain wrong or dangerously misleading. Even…
