Most of us know by now that many popular online forums are plagued with bots, some more advanced than others.
I propose that they are not only participating in existing debates but creating entirely new debates and re-kindling old ones, such as with the flat earth idiocy.
What if the goal of alphabet agency X is to test its advanced AI to see how well it can influence online debate, change opinions, and get people to waste their time. starting from a completely ridiculous foundation such as 'flat earth'?
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metism ago
What other "conspiracy theories" are there that have reached out to so many other kinds of online forums? Just doing a search for "flat earth" on Reddit shows results in a variety of subs, such as r/nba, environment, funny, videos, gaming, comics, EverythingScience, and others.
Granted, some of these are parodies but these discussions have HUNDREDS of comments and upvotes. What matters more than the content of the posts is what it gets people to think about.
I used to think is was a CHIA tool to demoralize society but the more comments I read from flat earth supporters the more unreal they seem. Like they're not exactly human.
iDontShift ago
i'm human. i accuse you of being a schill of misinformation... or someone who hasn't done their own research.
i argued with flat earthers on steemit.com .. and found them to be dismissive of any information i asked them to discuss. they yelled at me, they called me names, they downvoted me. but they did not discuss the facts.
some facts i've found that convinced me:
gyroscopes don't move. they would on a moving planet because they maintain their plane.
suez canal is 100 miles and completely flat. globe earth says there would be 80 feet of drop.
this guy, eric dubay has a mountain of proofs that i tested myself. didn't go thru all of them, but many, and found confirmation.
the major story is all the 'flat earthers' that are bots, they are schills they are making it seem that you have talked to one, but you haven't, you talk to a schill that made you think they where crazy. i know because 9 out of 10 videos about flat earth are in fact lies. i chanced upon a true one, that really pointed it out.
i was researching the eclipse, i'm good at holding 3d models in my head, and couldn't figure out the path of the eclipse. on the globe it does a freaking wave type path, in the flat earth model it goes in a circle. which do you think is correct?
also the 200 foot wall of ice that is antarctica is not a small continent, it surrounds us, and i found people that tried to explore it and ended up spending 1.5 years sailing 'around' it...
whatever, are you even real i dunno, but here it is, my proof. there is plenty more.
how do you tell the real flat earthers from the fake? i dunno, tons of research... that is what i did and do.
slumbermachine ago
So, I get from this you think water does not always go level? Show me an ocean or lake that curves. I'm not a bot or shill unless those guys also produce music and work as engineers using the same name.
VictorSteinerDavion ago
Water doesn't always go level, it moves towards the center of gravity in equal proportion.
If a concentration of gravity is like a pinpoint, and the water like a basketball all the water will be equally attracted to the pinpoint, with the effect getting less the further away from the pinpoint the water is.
The concept of "flat" is an effect of how close we are to the surface of the object we're looking at. When you're at sea level on a boat it may appear flat, but that's more an effect of your proximity than it actually being flat.
If you go to a height a few hundred feet above that boat, you would see a slight curvature in the distance, but near you it would still be "flat".
At a thousand feet up, it's all curved and there are no flat parts. If you go even higher it's much more obvious (you might have to wait a few minuets for the orbit to reach dayside)
Gravity affects equally in all directions. To have a mathematically flat plane of water you would have to be in an area of literal zero gravity (doesn't exist in nature) or an area where multiple sources of gravity created an area in the middle that was equivalent to zero. But seeing as our galaxy revolves around a huge gravity point, even that "flat" plane would curve if it was many light years long.
Surface tension can provide a similar effect on fluids in microgravity, the equal force applied over the volume forces the fluid into a sphere unless a new force is applied.
Surface tension is not gravity, but it can help illustrate the idea of equal force applied to a fluid in all directions.
In terms of scale (time and size), all the material of our planet could be considered a fluid, especially when considered over a period of billions of years. The cumulative effect of gravity in our core has progressively moved all the dirt, rocks etc into an effective sphere (oblate spheroid for the persnickety). But from our perspective of time, we can't observe this as we're just not around long enough to see it happen.
I'm really hoping you're have a bit of a laf with the question, because any engineer should know about the basic precepts involved, as it all relies on the same physics used every day, just at a larger sale.
In terms of the original question, my response would further refine an neural network so that future responses would be cogent counter arguments to everything I posted.
Unless of course I poisoned the well in other forums with replies designed to specifically negate my response here.
When you know how they work , it's rather easy to mess with learning algorithms.
GhostPantsMcGee ago
This is objectively not true. I'm not an advanced enough bot to prove it mathematically, but the difficulty pilots have seeing the curvature at cruising altitude should be a valuable anecdote, as they spend much time in the sky, have a better view than passengers, and better eyesight on average.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travelbuzz/633492-pilots-when-can-you-start-seeing-curvature-earth-sky-black.html
Of course, take their anecdote with a grain of salt, as even you think you can see it from a mere few hundred feet, and in my youth I was convinced I could see it at sea level! Suggestion and delusion are powerful forces, some pilots are even aware enough to admit they may be imagining it, as the effect is so subtle.
I totally agree that the water level thing is retarded, but I think it is a red herring, a widespread misconception, or disinfo.
If the topic interests you, consider looking into the science behind gyroscopes (an indispensable device in airplanes) and ponder over how one could possibly work on a long flight over curved earth.
Yours truly, 01000111 01101000 01101111 01110011 01110100 01110000 01100001 01101110 01110100 01110011 01101101 01100011 01100111 01100101 01100101
slumbermachine ago
Fuck had a great reply and it got screwed up. Figures. Sorry, educating you is not worth the hour I just lost writing up the proofs.
VictorSteinerDavion ago
There's no amount of rebuttal that would convince me otherwise.
I've seen the curve of the earth with my own eyes from a number of altitudes, one the highest you can go without joining a military organization or NASA.
If you truly, genuinely believe the earth is flat, more power to you and I'm sure your evidence is very convincing to you, but it won't be for me.
And from reading the replies below yours, there are people on this earth with only the most tenuous understanding of reality.
Then your belief must not be particularly strong and your evidence is likely weak and easily discarded.
Reddiggoat ago
Nice, you made the AI resort to ad-hominem!
VictorSteinerDavion ago
I what manner did I use ad-hominem?
Reddiggoat ago
You didn't, you made the AI do it. ("educating you is not worth the hour...")
slumbermachine ago
I had written up a page long rebuttal and thoughts to ponder about the shape of the Earth, but after I clicked preview, boom, my comment was gone and I was annoyed. Do AI get annoyed?
jesus_is_lord ago
most flat earthers are or will be Christian, if you don't understand Christianity (which you obviously don't) you will never understand the global Conspiracy, so from now on you should just stop reading and posting anything in the conspiracy forums
metism ago
umm.. you sound like a bot.
jesus_is_lord ago
it is saying something, just not to you cause you're either clueless or a shill, but i'm not just talking to you, i'm talking to everyone who will be reading it :)
ridemyplane ago
I had hoped it was the germ of a science learning program...one can always hope?