What do I care if Kyrie Irving thinks the world is flat?
I want to say that I don’t care, but if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have thought so much about it. I know that I shouldn’t care because:
The world is not flat has already been better addressed in a mic dropping delivery by Neil deGrasse Tyson when B.o.B. decided to drop some lyrics on deGrasse Tyson for some Twitter exchanges they had. DeGrasse Tyson is a science expert, and I will leave it to him to explain why the world is not flat. I do this knowing that it won’t change anyone’s point of view. There is simply no way to prove anything to someone who doesn’t want to believe it. That’s one reason why people continue to take drugs even if they are harming themselves and the one’s they love. It’s why people buy into the interconnectedness based on words and letters of the Abraham Lincoln and JFK assassinations. (Lincoln was at Ford’s theater when shot. Kennedy was in a Ford Lincoln when he was shot [Cue spooky music].) If someone doesn’t want to believe something, they shut off all attempts at logical reasoning and stick to their guns. Religious zealots often do it literally in spite of any religion’s message of peace.
Kyrie Irving is a basketball player, but it doesn’t mean that what he believes is true or false. It just means that it is what he believes. If he chooses to look at trumped up evidence or disregard the curvature of the Earth that he must be able to see when in flight, he is allowed to do so in a free democracy for as long as the democracy remains free. Actors, basketball players and all manner of other people are allowed to have opinions and beliefs and should not be condemned solely on the basis of their current employment. Irving has plenty of time on his hands to do the research and disbelieve science because of the research that he is doing. He further insulates himself by staying away from peer reviewed science because they are a part of the system that is denying what is “right in front of us.”
However, his beliefs will influence children and others with weak minds not to do their own research, which is actually what he suggested, but to just take his word for it. Irving is no Levar Burton who always maintains that you don’t have to take his word for it (BYDHTTMWFI). This becomes harmful for an entire generation that may see Irving as someone to emulate. Children see; children do. It’s called modeling, and even good parents can’t help who their children decide to act like.
Irving’s beliefs about the shape of the world won’t change the way gravity works, modern abilities to predict where planets will be in the sky or how long flights take to go from one place to another. Aside from the aforementioned effect on children and weak-minded adults, Irving’s beliefs won’t affect anything on this planet as long as he is not out there pushing his agenda. (And thus far he is not, he has just stated his opinion.) The same is true for me. The fact that I accept the world as spherical because science says it is so, doesn’t change anything objectively about how the world works. I could just as easily believe tomorrow that the Earth is flat and the day after that it is round and the day after that it is spaghetti strapped shaped on a the back of a turtle supporting four elephants… and none of it would change how the Earth works.
What does anyone have to gain by making the entire world think that it is spherical instead of flat? I have no idea. What other flat shapes are found in nature that do not have any other forces affecting them? Bubbles are spherical. Raindrops are spherical before air flow and surface tension go to work. Basketballs are spherical; but they aren’t in nature.
So why do I care? Maybe, because it is an indication of the epidemic of ignorance and Internet expertise that makes people think they know things. Just because it is on the Internet and you visit sites that confirm your world view doesn’t mean that it is true. The Internet does not make you smarter; it just allows you to have information and misinformation at your fingertips. How you judge the validity of that information and whether or not you believe it will in the end increase or decrease your intellectual acuity.
Just because you can think something doesn’t mean that something exists. Just because it sounds good doesn’t mean it is right or correct. Your opinion is just as good as mine until it is no longer an opinion. A spherical Earth is something that can objectively be proven given the right amount of mathematical knowledge and/or enough money.
Does it actually mean anything for the lay person to accept or not believe that the world is spherical? (Irving asked the same question.) I have a friend I respect who believes that world is flat. We never talked about it except to say that it doesn’t matter to either of us that we think different things. He is still an awesome guy, and I think he thinks I’m an awesome guy. We’re both acknowledge the areas that we do well, and we both acknowledge areas that can use improvement. We get along, are friends and enjoy spending time together. In the end, I shouldn’t care what Irving thinks about the Earth because I don’t know anything about him, other than he is really good at basketball.
As long as he isn’t able to defund NASA, Irving’s beliefs about the Earth are irrelevant to anything that he has yet to do in life. We should all let him have his beliefs, enjoy his basketball skills and hope that by the time he decides to run for office, he will have discovered the truth.
- The world is not flat.
- Kyrie Irving is a basketball player.
- If Kyrie Irving thinks the world is flat or not, it isn’t going to objectively change any physical thing.
The world is not flat has already been better addressed in a mic dropping delivery by Neil deGrasse Tyson when B.o.B. decided to drop some lyrics on deGrasse Tyson for some Twitter exchanges they had. DeGrasse Tyson is a science expert, and I will leave it to him to explain why the world is not flat. I do this knowing that it won’t change anyone’s point of view. There is simply no way to prove anything to someone who doesn’t want to believe it. That’s one reason why people continue to take drugs even if they are harming themselves and the one’s they love. It’s why people buy into the interconnectedness based on words and letters of the Abraham Lincoln and JFK assassinations. (Lincoln was at Ford’s theater when shot. Kennedy was in a Ford Lincoln when he was shot [Cue spooky music].) If someone doesn’t want to believe something, they shut off all attempts at logical reasoning and stick to their guns. Religious zealots often do it literally in spite of any religion’s message of peace.
Kyrie Irving is a basketball player, but it doesn’t mean that what he believes is true or false. It just means that it is what he believes. If he chooses to look at trumped up evidence or disregard the curvature of the Earth that he must be able to see when in flight, he is allowed to do so in a free democracy for as long as the democracy remains free. Actors, basketball players and all manner of other people are allowed to have opinions and beliefs and should not be condemned solely on the basis of their current employment. Irving has plenty of time on his hands to do the research and disbelieve science because of the research that he is doing. He further insulates himself by staying away from peer reviewed science because they are a part of the system that is denying what is “right in front of us.”
However, his beliefs will influence children and others with weak minds not to do their own research, which is actually what he suggested, but to just take his word for it. Irving is no Levar Burton who always maintains that you don’t have to take his word for it (BYDHTTMWFI). This becomes harmful for an entire generation that may see Irving as someone to emulate. Children see; children do. It’s called modeling, and even good parents can’t help who their children decide to act like.
Irving’s beliefs about the shape of the world won’t change the way gravity works, modern abilities to predict where planets will be in the sky or how long flights take to go from one place to another. Aside from the aforementioned effect on children and weak-minded adults, Irving’s beliefs won’t affect anything on this planet as long as he is not out there pushing his agenda. (And thus far he is not, he has just stated his opinion.) The same is true for me. The fact that I accept the world as spherical because science says it is so, doesn’t change anything objectively about how the world works. I could just as easily believe tomorrow that the Earth is flat and the day after that it is round and the day after that it is spaghetti strapped shaped on a the back of a turtle supporting four elephants… and none of it would change how the Earth works.
What does anyone have to gain by making the entire world think that it is spherical instead of flat? I have no idea. What other flat shapes are found in nature that do not have any other forces affecting them? Bubbles are spherical. Raindrops are spherical before air flow and surface tension go to work. Basketballs are spherical; but they aren’t in nature.
So why do I care? Maybe, because it is an indication of the epidemic of ignorance and Internet expertise that makes people think they know things. Just because it is on the Internet and you visit sites that confirm your world view doesn’t mean that it is true. The Internet does not make you smarter; it just allows you to have information and misinformation at your fingertips. How you judge the validity of that information and whether or not you believe it will in the end increase or decrease your intellectual acuity.
Just because you can think something doesn’t mean that something exists. Just because it sounds good doesn’t mean it is right or correct. Your opinion is just as good as mine until it is no longer an opinion. A spherical Earth is something that can objectively be proven given the right amount of mathematical knowledge and/or enough money.
Does it actually mean anything for the lay person to accept or not believe that the world is spherical? (Irving asked the same question.) I have a friend I respect who believes that world is flat. We never talked about it except to say that it doesn’t matter to either of us that we think different things. He is still an awesome guy, and I think he thinks I’m an awesome guy. We’re both acknowledge the areas that we do well, and we both acknowledge areas that can use improvement. We get along, are friends and enjoy spending time together. In the end, I shouldn’t care what Irving thinks about the Earth because I don’t know anything about him, other than he is really good at basketball.
As long as he isn’t able to defund NASA, Irving’s beliefs about the Earth are irrelevant to anything that he has yet to do in life. We should all let him have his beliefs, enjoy his basketball skills and hope that by the time he decides to run for office, he will have discovered the truth.