4 ms·

Science is hard. I watched a few minutes of a Youtube video from a "professor" at a university that believes the earth is flat, and he "sounded" very scientific

Science is hard. I watched a few minutes of a Youtube video from a "professor" at a university that believes the earth is flat, and he "sounded" very scientific. But despite the fact that I know the earth is round, beyond the boat-over-the-horizon experiment I would have a hard time actually demonstrating this fact to someone. On the other hand, I have quite a few disagreements with the established health industry. I cured a hole in my tooth in college in the late 90s on my own. I am still called a quack and a liar despite my wife knowing about this, and just this past year real scientific proof (and even medical products) coming out confirming it's true. But in the mean time, until it's widely accepted, I will be called a liar and/or quack/delusional. And this is has nothing to do with trauma, but simply ignorance, and a lack of interest in testing. (conspiracy would say that dentists don't want people healing their own teeth)

sheepz 8y ago
Could you elaborate on how you fixed your tooth?
- RobertRoberts 8y ago
  Sure, I simply kept the large hole in the side of my tooth clean. Used a tooth pick and peroxide. And consistently and regularly swished spit around in my mouth over the tooth. Also, I don't eat any processed white sugar (including corn syrups and their ilk) and I suspect this helped.
  - sanderjd 8y ago
    But how did that fix it? It sounds like what you are doing is managing a cavity, not fixing it.
    - RobertRoberts 8y ago
      >But how did that fix it? The tooth filled in on it's own. I just kept it cleaned out. I think the term I ran into recently that seems to describe my experience is "re-mineralization". Today is the first time I thought to look this term up on wikipedia. [0] >Saliva, being the watery substance that constantly circulates the oral cavity, is capable of impacting both the remineralisation and demineralisation processes. This quote from the Wikipedia article is sourced from a paper in The Journal of the American Dental Association. [1] >Remineralization occurs on a daily basis after an acidogenic challenge through the presence of saliva. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remineralisation_of_teeth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remineralisation_of_teeth [1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002817714638794 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000281771...
      - sanderjd 8y ago
        Ah, thanks for expanding - that wasn't clear to me from your original comment.
s3m4j 8y ago
If you had the patience and the other person also had the patience, you could look at shadows (plural) all day and reasonnably conclude the earth must be spherical. That's how it was done millenias ago.
- RobertRoberts 8y ago
  I am sure I could google how to do this, but I have no clue what it would actually "mean" to tell someone else. I could tell them to read the articles also, but wouldn't they just then argue that the "flat earth sun" just makes the shadows go all wibbly-wobbly because of reasons?
bardworx 8y ago
...with great trepidation, I’ll bite. Can you please elaborate on how you “cured” a hole in your tooth? I’m genuinely curious if your wording is misleading on what transpired or I’m feeding a troll.
- RobertRoberts 8y ago
  Not a troll, I commented briefly above on this issue here [0] but a more elaborate discussion thread here [1]. Fair warning it was quite a discussion. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17060569 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17060569 [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16432607 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16432607
ryanwaggoner 8y ago
I cured a hole in my tooth in college in the late 90s on my own. I am still called a quack and a liar despite my wife knowing about this, and just this past year real scientific proof (and even medical products) coming out confirming it's true. My teeth have always been terrible, would you mind sharing a link or two to the research?
- RobertRoberts 8y ago
  >My teeth have always been terrible, would you mind sharing a link or two to the research? Edit: I had to redo this comment because I mis-read your comment. Here's the story including comments.[0] [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16432024 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16432024
  - ryanwaggoner 8y ago
    I appreciate that, but your story is a lot less valuable than the modern research you mentioned that would hopefully provide some data and some kind of mechanism. Otherwise yours is just another one of millions of “secret and super simple cure!” anecdotes that abound on the internet. Taken together, one almost wonders if anyone suffered from anything before the advent of the evil modern medicine and science :)
    - RobertRoberts 8y ago
      >...anecdotes that abound on the internet Yep, I have never once claimed my comments to be anything more than what I experienced. Feel free to try things out if you want, or ignore it.
      - ryanwaggoner 8y ago
        Sorry, but that’s just not true: and just this past year real scientific proof (and even medical products) coming out confirming it's true. Your story is interesting, but it’s a lot more compelling since you claim it’s backed by scientific proof, so any kind of link or reference would be appreciated.
titzer 8y ago
A couple nights of stargazing (preferably spaced about 1 month apart throughout the year) with a starmap and it'll be pretty obvious the earth is round and going around the sun.
- RobertRoberts 8y ago
  I can look up just one night and imagine the sky as a big dome, and mentally play back timelapsed spinning night sky videos and that is enough for me. Is it worth arguing with flat-earthers though?
soneil 8y ago
For what it's worth, the easiest way to demonstrate a round earth is to Skype/Facetime/$equivalent someone in a different timezone. The more dramatically different the better. Get them to let you see where the sun is in the sky. On a flat earth, it should be the same answer for them as for you.
- RobertRoberts 8y ago
  Yah, it would seem like that would work. When I first heard of this silliness I watched a couple youtube videos on the subject, and they have this tiny moon/sun thing that rotates around the disk... they would explain it away. I have family in Japan and in Ireland, I doubt talking to them at the same time from the US would mean a darn thing.

sheepz 8y ago

Could you elaborate on how you fixed your tooth?

RobertRoberts 8y ago
Sure, I simply kept the large hole in the side of my tooth clean. Used a tooth pick and peroxide. And consistently and regularly swished spit around in my mouth over the tooth. Also, I don't eat any processed white sugar (including corn syrups and their ilk) and I suspect this helped.
- sanderjd 8y ago
  But how did that fix it? It sounds like what you are doing is managing a cavity, not fixing it.
  - RobertRoberts 8y ago
    >But how did that fix it? The tooth filled in on it's own. I just kept it cleaned out. I think the term I ran into recently that seems to describe my experience is "re-mineralization". Today is the first time I thought to look this term up on wikipedia. [0] >Saliva, being the watery substance that constantly circulates the oral cavity, is capable of impacting both the remineralisation and demineralisation processes. This quote from the Wikipedia article is sourced from a paper in The Journal of the American Dental Association. [1] >Remineralization occurs on a daily basis after an acidogenic challenge through the presence of saliva. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remineralisation_of_teeth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remineralisation_of_teeth [1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002817714638794 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000281771...
    - sanderjd 8y ago
      Ah, thanks for expanding - that wasn't clear to me from your original comment.

s3m4j 8y ago

If you had the patience and the other person also had the patience, you could look at shadows (plural) all day and reasonnably conclude the earth must be spherical. That's how it was done millenias ago.

RobertRoberts 8y ago
I am sure I could google how to do this, but I have no clue what it would actually "mean" to tell someone else. I could tell them to read the articles also, but wouldn't they just then argue that the "flat earth sun" just makes the shadows go all wibbly-wobbly because of reasons?

bardworx 8y ago

...with great trepidation, I’ll bite. Can you please elaborate on how you “cured” a hole in your tooth? I’m genuinely curious if your wording is misleading on what transpired or I’m feeding a troll.

RobertRoberts 8y ago
Not a troll, I commented briefly above on this issue here [0] but a more elaborate discussion thread here [1]. Fair warning it was quite a discussion. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17060569 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17060569 [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16432607 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16432607

ryanwaggoner 8y ago

I cured a hole in my tooth in college in the late 90s on my own. I am still called a quack and a liar despite my wife knowing about this, and just this past year real scientific proof (and even medical products) coming out confirming it's true. My teeth have always been terrible, would you mind sharing a link or two to the research?

RobertRoberts 8y ago
>My teeth have always been terrible, would you mind sharing a link or two to the research? Edit: I had to redo this comment because I mis-read your comment. Here's the story including comments.[0] [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16432024 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16432024
- ryanwaggoner 8y ago
  I appreciate that, but your story is a lot less valuable than the modern research you mentioned that would hopefully provide some data and some kind of mechanism. Otherwise yours is just another one of millions of “secret and super simple cure!” anecdotes that abound on the internet. Taken together, one almost wonders if anyone suffered from anything before the advent of the evil modern medicine and science :)
  - RobertRoberts 8y ago
    >...anecdotes that abound on the internet Yep, I have never once claimed my comments to be anything more than what I experienced. Feel free to try things out if you want, or ignore it.
    - ryanwaggoner 8y ago
      Sorry, but that’s just not true: and just this past year real scientific proof (and even medical products) coming out confirming it's true. Your story is interesting, but it’s a lot more compelling since you claim it’s backed by scientific proof, so any kind of link or reference would be appreciated.

titzer 8y ago

A couple nights of stargazing (preferably spaced about 1 month apart throughout the year) with a starmap and it'll be pretty obvious the earth is round and going around the sun.

RobertRoberts 8y ago
I can look up just one night and imagine the sky as a big dome, and mentally play back timelapsed spinning night sky videos and that is enough for me. Is it worth arguing with flat-earthers though?

soneil 8y ago

For what it's worth, the easiest way to demonstrate a round earth is to Skype/Facetime/$equivalent someone in a different timezone. The more dramatically different the better. Get them to let you see where the sun is in the sky. On a flat earth, it should be the same answer for them as for you.

RobertRoberts 8y ago
Yah, it would seem like that would work. When I first heard of this silliness I watched a couple youtube videos on the subject, and they have this tiny moon/sun thing that rotates around the disk... they would explain it away. I have family in Japan and in Ireland, I doubt talking to them at the same time from the US would mean a darn thing.