
A man is about to launch himself in a homemade rocket to prove the Earth is flat - ductionist
http://www.chicagotribune.com/bluesky/technology/ct-flat-earth-rocket-20171122-story.html
======
tom_mellior
Previous discussion from yesterday:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15751398](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15751398)

Previous discussion from today:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15760481](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15760481)

They are all based on slightly different articles, but they don't seem to be
adding much to each other.

~~~
justboxing
Actually 6 different posts and discussions over the past 48 hours all on the
same canonical story.

See =>
[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=Earth%20flat%20rocket&sort=byP...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=Earth%20flat%20rocket&sort=byPopularity&prefix=false&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story)

Why does this even belong on HN? Why are people obsessed with this onion-esque
gimmick?

~~~
tom_mellior
It's about (pseudo-)science and rockets... I guess it is a good fit for HN,
otherwise it would not have been voted onto the front page three times in two
days. On the other hand, the people upvoting it are apparently not the ones
who pay attention to what was recently on the front page?

------
rebuilder
Sounds like he wanted to build a rocket and figured the flat-earth schtick
would get him attention and funding.

~~~
callumlocke
Yep. If this guy really believed in a powerful conspiracy to convince everyone
the Earth is round, it would be very strange to publicise his plan to expose
it. It's weird how many commentators are taken in by an obvious publicity
stunt.

------
JulianMorrison
Upside: discovers the Earth is round.

Downside: only retains that knowledge rather briefly before himself becoming
flat.

------
taneq
1800 feet seems like too small a payoff for strapping yourself into a home-
made missile. Has he considered renting a Cessna or something?

~~~
abainbridge
Or walking up a hill.

------
sddfd
What worries me most is how so many people can believe in obviously stupid
ideas.

One would assume that some basic education is enough to debunk such crackpot
ideas yourself.

On the other hand, saying the Earth is flat and scientists, media, school
books, etc have been lying to me is a testimony to big distrust in society.

We should all be asking ourselves where such big distrust is coming from.

~~~
michaelbrooks
It would be easier and safer if he just sent an air balloon strapped with a Go
Pro up. He would get the footage he needs to prove his bogus claims are wrong
and he would be safe on the ground.

You are right though, we need to understand how so many people still believe
that the Earth is flat.

~~~
rothron
People have done this of course, but you cannot convince a flat earther with
GoPro footage because of the fisheye lens that will allow you to film the
horizon curve either way, depending on the angle.

What you'd need is a wide angle rectilinear lens not normally found on light
weight cameras.

He shouldn't expect much from 1800 feet tough in terms of seeing the
curvature. It won't be pronounced. I think he just wants to fly.

~~~
dekhn
Counterpoint: you can trivially correct for lens distortions by calibrating
the camera on earth using far-away objects.

I agree that he's making claims in bad faith and just wants to fly.

------
interfixus
Let us not forget: There are _plenty_ of people out there for whom the Earth
is, yeah, okay, round, not really because of some deeply held conviction or as
a result of some deep cogitation on the subject, but simply because they have
been told. And if someone one day tells them something else in a reasonably
persuasive tone of voice, well, then perhaps _that_ is the way it is.

Not a few of those people, assuming they hear this story, will come away from
it with a vague idea that those space and rocket guys aren't really all much
that in agreement about the round-or-flat thing.

[Edit: missing word]

~~~
mcv
Being wrong is in itself not a big problem. Believing what you're told about
something that's not going to affect you anyway, is no big deal.

The problem with flat earthers is that they put a lot of effort in being
wrong, and try to convince others to be wrong, and that the people who are
right are all liars conspiring against them. It would be nice if they put that
time and energy into something more productive.

------
kakaorka
Seems like there's a lot of competition for the Darwin award of the year.

------
kelvin0
That's the great thing about these fringe groups: any outcome of this project
will continue to serve there 'beliefs'. Most likely the rocket might not even
get off the ground, or may explode in mid-air, or injure the pilot gravely in
a rough landing. In all cases they can blame the 'elite' and 'freemasons' for
colluding and hindering/sabotaging their efforts to discover the 'truth'.

I have to admit I do admire his 'brass balls' if he does go through with this.

------
brndnmtthws
I wish him the very best in his endeavor, and hope that he doesn't hurt
himself.

------
ManuelKiessling
Here's a thought I had for quite a while now: Find the most notorious flat
earther who also happens to have a very strong reputation in the flat earther
community. Launch a Kickstarter to collect enough money to send him to space
(like all those billionaires do).

I'd hate to make a moron such an awesome present, but it could convert a lot
of other morons.

~~~
lucozade
> but it could convert a lot of other morons

I think you may be underestimating the sheer tenacity of these beliefs. I
mean, what makes you think that super flat earther wasn't an Illuminati stooge
all along?

BTW if you do decide to do this, I happen to be a very strong believer that
the earth is flat, there's no such thing as space etc etc. In case you
struggle for a candidate...

------
KillerRAK
Isn't this kind of how evolution works? Nature is just running its course --
nothing much to see here.

------
a254613e
"Hughes only recently converted to flat-Eartherism, after struggling for
months to raise funds for his follow-up flight over the Mojave."

What a coincidence.

I do wonder if he manages to fly high enough to see for himself that the earth
is not flat, whether any other people that supported him would believe him or
would they just dismiss it as another conspiracy theory.

If he's in it for the money though, he'll probably say something along the
lines of the flight being inconclusive at best.

------
Shantee
I am French and I haven't heard of flat earther until recently.I don't think
anybody in Europe believe such things. That's just too weird. I wonder if
there's really a significant amount of people who believe it or of it just
some kind of buzz word..

------
shroom
No matter the outcome this will not end well.

About flat-Earth theory some arguments may seem valid but how wouldn’t it be
easier by starting off explaining how something, now, everyday like GPS or
satelites would work if the Earth was flat?

~~~
sddfd
Your treating this as a scientific issue, but it's not.

This is is social issue: there are people that just don't believe anything
anymore.

~~~
jacquesm
No, you've got that backwards. There are people that will believe anything.

~~~
zaarn
Well, they believe one thing and then they claw onto that belief like their
life depends on it.

~~~
marcosdumay
Almost like if it was a religion.

------
rmu09
1800 feet, that is, like, 600m? There are even cliffs that are double that
height.

Why not just hike up a mountain? In New Zealand or Hawaii it should be
possible to go from sea-level to above 3000m in one push.

Or take a balloon?

------
johansch
This seems to be the video mentioned in the article:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jU_forLM_s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jU_forLM_s)

------
DavideNL
So if he doesn't return alive, will his friends think the government sabotaged
his rocket to prevent the truth from being exposed?

------
glorkk
So... why not launch a drone mounted with a gopro? Do they also believe the
government is hijaking those and editing the footage?

------
gremlinsinc
This guy belongs in a mental institution, he is seriously deranged and about
to cause harm to himself and/or others.

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Havoc
>walks up to the engine and pokes it with a stick

Slightly concerned about the engineering approach

~~~
1_player
Stick-poking, kicking and wrenching are popular and underestimated hardware
engineer debugging tricks.

[https://youtu.be/dEkOT3IngMQ?t=28s](https://youtu.be/dEkOT3IngMQ?t=28s)

------
lerie82
So he wanted to use other people's money to build a rocket and waste his life.
Nice.

~~~
lerie82
So it's my turn, I don't believe social media is popular, I need funding to
build a social network.

