Oh I have a doozy........ Even more obscure then Flat Earth "Earth is a hologram" or the simulation theory that the whole universe is a simulation. The latter one I find interesting, not so much the hologram one because well why would Earth be a hologram, does that mean everything and everyone is also a holo?
Seen that one since the Matrix films came out, giving them more ways to describe this idea. Well, it definitely filled out the New Age section of the book store if nothing else.
True. I only have one such book "In search of the multiverse" by John Gribbin, and a UFO book called "After Disclosure" by Richard Dolan and Bryce Zabel. The multiverse book is actually not bad and an easy read.
Anyone who doesn't believe in the possibility of objects sailing off a flat surface has never owned a cat and a kitchen counter.
If I answered that question, I would probably wind up warned, kicked out of this topic, suspended, or banned outright.
Why would any of that happen just for naming a "mainstream belief"? Here, I'll do a couple that are as crazy as flat Earth... Humans only use 10% of our brains. Ghosts are real. Shaving makes the hair coarser. [Edited to fix my mistake]
No, flat Earth is far and away the craziest. I'm confused about the last one though. It's true: Shaving does not make the hair coarser [https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/expert-answers/hair-removal/faq-20058427]. The crazy belief is that shaving does make the hair coarser. Maybe the "not" is there by mistake? The 10% of our brains one is simply a myth. The ghosts one is of course the most out there of the alternatives. It's distinguished from all of the others, including flat Earth, as being the most difficult to refute. If you go so far as to define belief in ghosts in a way that makes it unfalsifiable, which isn't hard to do, then unlike all of the others it's outside the bounds of science. The other three are, with today's technology, easily refuted. Given the level of technology today, you have to have your head in the sand far deeper to believe that the Earth is flat than any of the others. So, flat Earth is the craziest. Belief in ghosts is the runner up. Belief in the other two can occur simply due to being misinformed.
Because I accidentally worded it the wrong way around. There's no need to address those examples, they were simply there to refute Oddish's odd claim that they'd be warned or booted for answering my question.
It's not mathematically improbable that the Universe is a simulation. It would also be a bit of a band-aid on problems found in the Hartle-Hawking wave function "Shuttlecock" universe. I'm not sure why this concept would be thrown into the same category as flat-earth.
Well for one thing it cheapens the value of life if everything, you, me, the Earth the sky, all of it is a simulation then nothing matters and just do go what you want. Nothing matters. It's all a simulation after all so why bother? If that happens we'd be in the dark
That's a personal judgement based on feelings. It is irrelevant. The nature of reality, simulated, or otherwise has no bearing on respect for life. I'm not even going to get into Descartes' cogito.
True, but that's one of the huge pet peeves for me with the whole notion of this is all a simulation. What about this more mundane idea that tall buildings never say they have a 13th floor? https://traveltips.usatoday.com/isnt-there-13th-floor-hotels-107585.html
Similar to the one about shaving is the notion that longer hair gets stronger/thicker when it has a substantial amount cut off. Kor.
Ever hear the urban legend about the bungee jumper who jumped off a building and went splat because he didn't realize the building skipped the 13th floor?