So if you've got a flat earther social site and have the most followers, you'd get a free flight over the pole from wherever you are, but you'd be required to document it on your website.
1- You'd take lots of pictures and videos of your flight, all documented.
2- You'd have to make two charts taking into consideratin the time, one with the flat Earth path, one with the globe shaped Earth path.
3- You'd need to share your findings with the followers on your website.
You'd be accompanied by someone well versed in explaing where you were at any given point in the flight from a geometric standpoint.
I'd donate ten bucks to the cause. Could even make it an annual thing, with the top 4 of 5 flat Earther hosts.
Downside of course would be people (like me) who might fake it to get a free trip over the North Pole, so it'd have to be people with a history of flat Earth beliefs since hundreds would probably pop up after the contest was announced.
This is also in keeping with my revelation that nobody ever changed their mind by being insulted, and there couldn't be a friendlier interaction between people with opposite beliefs than a 10 hour flight with cockails and horderves.
Maybe the Discovery Channel could fund this. Might make an interesting show.
ADDENDUM: Grand prize is a trip to space.-- doctorremulac3, Apr 02 2024 I don't believe any 'flat-earthers' actually think the Earth is flat. They're just saying the Earth is flat to be 'different' and because having non-mainstream, counter-rational views is currently fashionable. So, this stunt wouldn't change their minds; they'd just come back and say "Yup, looked pretty flat to me".-- hippo, Apr 02 2024 Even if you didn't convince the trip winners, you could make it an interesting documentary that might set some people straight no?-- doctorremulac3, Apr 02 2024 I'm still not sure if I understand what the idea is here, in fact I am quite sure on second reading that I definitely don't understand it. Is it a competition? Finding out what "cockails and horderves" are is also of interest to me. Passes microphone over....... As regards flat earthers - the part of the earth I'm on is always flat so I must be one of them.-- xenzag, Apr 02 2024 //might set some people straight// - no, because they already don't believe the Earth is flat! They're just saying they believe that to look whacky and different-- hippo, Apr 02 2024 //I definitely don't understand it. Is it a competition?//
Yes. You fly flat Earthers over the North Pole with scientists to explain what’s going on.
You select the flat Earthers by which ones are the biggest influencers determined by how many followers they have on social media.-- doctorremulac3, Apr 02 2024 //I don't believe any 'flat-earthers' actually think the Earth is flat.//
That was my tinfoil hat theory, I thought it was just a gag but I'm told that people aren't kidding.
I'm sure some are though. Would be kind of ironic though if we're all believing the "flat Earther hoax". Not the "flat Earth hoax", the "flat Earther hoax."
Which is probably a thing. Pretty easy to do, just post a stupid picture of something saying "How do you explain this?". I even had a idea for that, a picture of a foot standing on the ground with a straight line saying "Flat Earth" and one next to it standing on a rounded line with the toes and heels not touching the ground saying "Round earth".-- doctorremulac3, Apr 02 2024 There is already overwhelming evidence they choose to ignore. Other flat-earthers will say it's staged, and that he's been bought. You can't win. It's the same with every conspiracy-minded nut out there.-- RayfordSteele, Apr 02 2024 It's the SOUTH Pole they mostly don't "believe in". Have you never seen their "Flat Earth" map? A flight completely around BOTH Poles would be best (not sure if any aircraft is capable of 40,000km non-stop...).-- neutrinos_shadow, Apr 03 2024 //I'm told that people aren't kidding// - but [drremulac], that's exactly what they *would* say!//There is already overwhelming evidence they choose to ignore// - [Rayford] identifies the same problem, which is that a conspiracy theorist is not interested in evidence or facts, or even in belief, because it's all about identity and not about any of these other things. The conspiracy theory becomes part of the person's identity - it is 'who they are' - and so to accept evidence or argument which destroys the theory would be for the person to deny their own identity.-- hippo, Apr 03 2024 Very true. One of the hardest things to do it look inwards and question yourself. At some point your view of the world gives you purpose and defines you. Very hard to change that.
At the same time, realizing you were wrong about something can be very liberating. If you can realize you're capable of being wrong sometimes it frees you. You basically say "Hey, that wasn't so bad, and now I've got awareness that I didn't have before."
A revelation I've had about awareness vs IQ is it's a misconception that IQ, the ability to assimilate and process information necessarily always comes up with the truth. If you've got an asset, like a high IQ, like any other asset you're born with you're going to want to use it to enhance your life. But what if it does the exact opposite? I'll illustrate it with what I'll call "The Santa Clause".
Your IQ was a particular number in the last moments of you believing in Santa Claus. Then you were told there was no Santa Claus. Your IQ was the exact same after you learned that but your awareness changed. Now ask yourself, were you happier or sadder? You were sadder. Your enhanced awareness made you sad. Was that the last time that ever happened? Probably not.
Another thing to consider if you're too smart to be brainwashed. Is it easier to train a smart dog or a dumb dog? If you consider yourself smart, do you think you need to be careful about people brainwashing you? Of course not, you're immune, it's those other stupid guys that are brainwashed. Whereas a person who questions their intelligence may just have a built in lack of trust. Might not sound as eloquent as the intellectual when they say "Hmm, don't know 'bout that." but they might remember other times they've been taken in and develop a built in mistrust of authority.
To put it in another frame, guess you could compare IQ to an engine supplying "latent horsepower" that's not doing anything useful until it's tapped by a proper transmission system. You could put a 1,500 HP engine in your car, but without a proper transmission it's just going to sit there in the driveway making noise. That transmission system is complicated, it needs to adjust to the task, the situation, the parameters of the job to be done. One example is a person who's smarter than everybody else and just sits around being pissed off that they're not appreciated for their brilliance. The lower IQ person might spend their time organizing and using what they have to better their life. They've got a lower horsepower engine, but work on making their transmission system more efficient. They organize their day better, they work harder on relationships, they stay away from time wasters like hate, envy and anger, and if somebody tells them to join a cult that has all the answers, that'll solve all the world's problems as soon as we throw all "those guys" in death camps, they say "No thanks.".
Non geniuses might be more prone to stay away from people telling them what to do, what party to join, how to speak, eat, move and even think. You join a cult you're gonna get patted on the head and praised. "Good genius, you're not one of those stupid non-compliants."
Yea, there are dumb cult members, but I think the hive mind is more insidious that that. Chinese people invented the rocket over a thousand years ago, as well as paper, printing, silk and the compass, but they all became communists, like it or not, murdering 40 to 80 million of their fellow Chinese in the 50s. Russians put the first man in space, but they were instructed to murder over 60 million people "for the good of the people" and they obeyed. And that first man made object to enter space? That was launched by the 3rd Reich. No, intelligence doesn't guarantee you won't join a cult, even a murderous one like those referred to.
So am I personally susceptible to joining a cult? If I say "Of course not." well, you have your answer.-- doctorremulac3, Apr 03 2024 //You were sadder// - or possibly happier, with the reassurance that a weird stranger wasn't going to wander round your bedroom in the middle of the night//IQ, the ability to assimilate and process information// - IQ is only a measure of how good you are at answering IQ tests, nothing more-- hippo, Apr 03 2024 random, halfbakery