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From what I can tell from engaging with Flat Earthers, it's actually 50/50 people who reject everything reasonable they've been told, and people who are playing

From what I can tell from engaging with Flat Earthers, it's actually 50/50 people who reject everything reasonable they've been told, and people who are playing a game. The game is fun and simple: pretend you believe in the Flat Earth to piss people off. Refute their scientific facts with questioning and amusing statements, like "I never said it wasn't a circle" or "How do you really know Australia exists if you haven't been", etc. You win the game if the other person gets mad and truly believes you believe in the Flat Earth. You lose if either they don't believe that you believe this, i.e. if you've given it away with your facial expressions, or if they manage to actually present convincing evidence (e.g. like Carl Sagan's sundial shadows) that cannot be refuted. I have conversed with both kinds. The latter can be highly amusing people to talk to, the former are legitimately strange and I can't fathom how they come to exist. The linked post may be correct; I think some people simply have the innate urge to reject everything they've been told and to look for a countercultural answer instead, regardless of the subject matter. At least this is a safe direction to channel their madness into.

1cvmask 5y ago
Perhaps they seen lots of lying from their governments and the media mouthpieces and so have developed an ingrained disbelief of authority and the establishment and this pervades to all parts of life. Just like how all the mainstream media attacked MLK and the government treated him like a domestic terrorist. Now we lionize him. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29973075 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29973075
- mistermann 5y ago
  Flat Earthers aren't the only ones who are good at rationalizing things away, it seems to be a skill that is innate to all humans. And, most seem oblivious to it, which makes conversations like this that much more fun.
kerneloftruth 5y ago
"...the former are legitimately strange and I can't fathom how they come to exist" I've come to believe that 10+% of any given population is insane (i.e. the fringe). I find it true almost regardless of what defines the group: professionals, academics, regular folks, ...
cecilpl2 5y ago
I distinctly remember playing this Flat Earth game when I was a young teenager, over 20 years ago now. It was great practice for exercising my burgeoning reasoning skills and annoying my friends to no end. The charm wore off after a short time when I realised that playing private games is not conducive to productive relationships with people.
JohnBooty 5y ago
I can't fathom how they come to exist. The linked post may be correct; I think some people simply have the innate urge to reject everything they've been told and to look for a countercultural answer I'm just conjecturing like everybody else, but I might tweak that explanation a bit. Surely, yes, some just reject everything reflexively - basically: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519712/table/ch3.t14/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519712/table/ch3.t14/ Others take a look at the status quo of our society, and perhaps reasonably, decide that it sucks. Our society has a lot of shortcomings, and has let a lot of people down. So they reject the institutions they view as being responsible for what they consider this poor state of affairs. In other words they are not blindly opposed to the concept of authority; but they have come to the conclusion that the current set of authorities that govern us kind of suck. I don't think their opinion of society and the institutions that shape it is necessarily wrong, though I most certainly believe that rejecting our accumulated scientific knowledge is most definitely mistake. A true "throwing the baby out with the bathwater" situation. Also, aside from issues with authority, it's just kind of cool to feel like you have some sort of special and secret knowledge that (most) others lack. A very seductive prospect. Especially if you are lacking in intelligence and/or education and don't get a lot of opportunities to feel that way. After all, we tend to place such people on a pedestal -- folks who figured things out before others and were eventually proven correct. Adopting a fringe theory like Flat Earthism lets people feel they're part of the special/chosen few.

1cvmask 5y ago

Perhaps they seen lots of lying from their governments and the media mouthpieces and so have developed an ingrained disbelief of authority and the establishment and this pervades to all parts of life. Just like how all the mainstream media attacked MLK and the government treated him like a domestic terrorist. Now we lionize him. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29973075 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29973075

mistermann 5y ago
Flat Earthers aren't the only ones who are good at rationalizing things away, it seems to be a skill that is innate to all humans. And, most seem oblivious to it, which makes conversations like this that much more fun.

kerneloftruth 5y ago

"...the former are legitimately strange and I can't fathom how they come to exist" I've come to believe that 10+% of any given population is insane (i.e. the fringe). I find it true almost regardless of what defines the group: professionals, academics, regular folks, ...

cecilpl2 5y ago

I distinctly remember playing this Flat Earth game when I was a young teenager, over 20 years ago now. It was great practice for exercising my burgeoning reasoning skills and annoying my friends to no end. The charm wore off after a short time when I realised that playing private games is not conducive to productive relationships with people.

JohnBooty 5y ago

I can't fathom how they come to exist. The linked post may be correct; I think some people simply have the innate urge to reject everything they've been told and to look for a countercultural answer I'm just conjecturing like everybody else, but I might tweak that explanation a bit. Surely, yes, some just reject everything reflexively - basically: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519712/table/ch3.t14/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519712/table/ch3.t14/ Others take a look at the status quo of our society, and perhaps reasonably, decide that it sucks. Our society has a lot of shortcomings, and has let a lot of people down. So they reject the institutions they view as being responsible for what they consider this poor state of affairs. In other words they are not blindly opposed to the concept of authority; but they have come to the conclusion that the current set of authorities that govern us kind of suck. I don't think their opinion of society and the institutions that shape it is necessarily wrong, though I most certainly believe that rejecting our accumulated scientific knowledge is most definitely mistake. A true "throwing the baby out with the bathwater" situation. Also, aside from issues with authority, it's just kind of cool to feel like you have some sort of special and secret knowledge that (most) others lack. A very seductive prospect. Especially if you are lacking in intelligence and/or education and don't get a lot of opportunities to feel that way. After all, we tend to place such people on a pedestal -- folks who figured things out before others and were eventually proven correct. Adopting a fringe theory like Flat Earthism lets people feel they're part of the special/chosen few.