I went to a Flat Earth convention. Here's what separates science deniers from scientists.
Every day in the media we see once-unthinkable science headlines. More than seven hundred cases of measles across 22 states in the U.S., largely due to vaccine deniers. Climate change legislation stalled in the U.S. Senate—due mainly to partisan politicians who routinely confuse climate and weather—even as scientists tell us that we have only until 2030 to cut worldwide carbon emissions by half, then drop them to zero by 2050.
I had a chance to test this theory in person recently when I attended the Flat Earth International Conference in Denver, Colorado, in November 2018. There I found myself among six hundred cheering, clapping Flat Earth advocates in the main ballroom of the Crowne Royal Hotel and Convention Center, who were taking part in a two-day extravaganza of presentations, multimedia performances, and"evidence" that the"globalists" have been pulling the wool over our eyes for millennia.
For the first day, I kept my mouth shut and just listened. I wore the conference badge and took notes. The second day, I came out hard as a philosopher of science. After numerous conversations, I came away with the conclusion that Flat Earth is a curious mixture of fundamentalist Christianity and conspiracy theory, where outsiders are distrusted and belief in Flat Earth is tantamount to religious faith.
"But wait," I said,"you just told us that every photo from NASA was Photoshopped....yet I'm supposed to believe this one?" "What? You've devoted your entire life to this work and you didn't go? You had the definitive experiment within reach and you couldn't go out an extra 55 miles?"It is going to be a long process to talk to science deniers. They won't be convinced by evidence because their views are not based on a rational way of responding to evidence in the first place. Of course I didn't convince the speaker, or anyone else over my 48 hours at FEIC 2018.
But the problem with Flat Earthers—and other science deniers—is not that they don't pursue evidence, but that they don't respond to it in a rational way. They lack the scientific attitude. So how should we respond?
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