Flat Earthers and academic credentials

[Seeker]

Well, I was discussing with a fundamentalist these days, and I pointed out how I resorted to PhD people and peer-reviewed research to back up my science claims. In addition of accusing me of ''having no opinion of your own'', he said that ''Phd's aren't always right'' (which is something obvious to attest, to say the least).

An an example of the latter, he pointed out that Einstein and Galileo thought that the Earth was ''round'', and some ''loony'' (by his own admission) scholars currently claim that the Earth is flat.

But, I thought: hey, wait? Do any ''Flat Earthers'' actually have PhD's in the relevant scientific fields, or have any published peer-reviewed literature?

Do you guys have any info on this?

[mikewhitney]

You are guaranteed not to have flat earthers in peer-reviewed literature since this would be too controversial to be considered for publication.

I was looking at some stuff on this since there was a lot of hype in 2019 about it. The closest I saw were a couple airline pilots that found indications that the earth was "flat." One group wanted to get some ring laser gyros to do some tests.

[Stoic]

You are guaranteed not to have flat earthers in peer-reviewed literature since this would be too controversial to be considered for publication.

They wouldn't have any peer-reviewed articles in support of a flat earth, but they could have peer-reviewed articles and still be flat earthers.

[Terraceth]

Well, I was discussing with a fundamentalist these days, and I pointed out how I resorted to PhD people and peer-reviewed research to back up my science claims. In addition of accusing me of ''having no opinion of your own'', he said that ''Phd's aren't always right'' (which is something obvious to attest, to say the least).

An an example of the latter, he pointed out that Einstein and Galileo thought that the Earth was ''round'', and some ''loony'' (by his own admission) scholars currently claim that the Earth is flat.

But, I thought: hey, wait? Do any ''Flat Earthers'' actually have PhD's in the relevant scientific fields, or have any published peer-reviewed literature?

Do you guys have any info on this?

Did he give any specific names of who the "loony scholars" in question were?

[TheLurch]

Well, I was discussing with a fundamentalist these days, and I pointed out how I resorted to PhD people and peer-reviewed research to back up my science claims. In addition of accusing me of ''having no opinion of your own'', he said that ''Phd's aren't always right'' (which is something obvious to attest, to say the least).

An an example of the latter, he pointed out that Einstein and Galileo thought that the Earth was ''round'', and some ''loony'' (by his own admission) scholars currently claim that the Earth is flat.

But, I thought: hey, wait? Do any ''Flat Earthers'' actually have PhD's in the relevant scientific fields, or have any published peer-reviewed literature?

Do you guys have any info on this?

I'm not aware of any flat earther with a PhD, but that doesn't mean there's not one out there.

Your friend is correct in that, if you look hard enough, you can find someone with a PhD who's willing to say almost ANYTHING. The training involved should help people recognize the flaws in their own reasoning, the risks of Dunning-Kruger, etc. But it clearly doesn't stick for everyone.

(And i say this as someone with a PhD).

[shunyadragon]

I'm not aware of any flat earther with a PhD, but that doesn't mean there's not one out there.

Your friend is correct in that, if you look hard enough, you can find someone with a PhD who's willing to say almost ANYTHING. The training involved should help people recognize the flaws in their own reasoning, the risks of Dunning-Kruger, etc. But it clearly doesn't stick for everyone.

(And i say this as someone with a PhD).

The PhD may have come from a perforated roll, or mail order with two box tops. Education does not enlighten, and there are many . . . ah PHDs that believe in weird stuff like YEC Creation of our physical existence.

There was a reasonably educated member of Tweb in the past that argued persistently for a Flat Earth, but I do not remember him much.

[Terraceth]

The PhD may have come from a perforated roll, or mail order with two box tops. Education does not enlighten, and there are many . . . ah PHDs that believe in weird stuff like YEC Creation of our physical existence.

There was a reasonably educated member of Tweb in the past that argued persistently for a Flat Earth, but I do not remember him much.

I assume you're thinking of JohnMartin, though I don't really know what his education credentials were. I'm also not sure I would say he "argued persistently for a Flat Earth" because while he presented arguments for it, his attitude was more one of thinking it was a possibility (e.g. see here).

What he definitely did argue persistently for, and was a staunch believer in, was geocentrism.

[shunyadragon]

I assume you're thinking of JohnMartin, though I don't really know what his education credentials were. I'm also not sure I would say he "argued persistently for a Flat Earth" because while he presented arguments for it, his attitude was more one of thinking it was a possibility (e.g. see here).

What he definitely did argue persistently for, and was a staunch believer in, was geocentrism.

I believe both arguments are equally problematic. Even arguing for the possibility is a stretch outside reality. As I remember John Martin had reasonable grasp of math and was articulate in his argument, which indicated some college.

I believe there is a Flat Earth Society, and one that believes of Geocentrism, maybe both

[Juvenal]

I'm not aware of any flat earther with a PhD, but that doesn't mean there's not one out there.

[rogue06]

[ReformedApologist]

[shunyadragon]

Apparently they could not afford the $19.95 and two box tops.

[Terraceth]

Does she? The only thing I can find in regards to her and Flat Earth is that she wrote an article in the Skeptical Inquirer about the above controversy. Unfortunately, I can only read the first few sentences of her article without a subscription, so I suppose she could have then spent the whole thing talking about how the Earth is flat... but I have some major doubts that the Skeptical Inquirer published an essay arguing that.

[rogue06]

Apparently they could not afford the $19.95 and two box tops.

What was it that Jorge spent for his? $49 or something like that.

[rogue06]

Skeptical Inquirer where she denounced it: "A Doctoral Dissertation on a Geocentric Flat Earth: 'Zetetic' Astronomy at the University Level"