November 14, 2017
Got something you want to ask? Send me your questions through Facebook, Twitter or email (with "Ask Hickey" in the subject line). Your anonymity is guaranteed — if that’s how you want it — so feel free to send them via private/direct message.
And now, this week’s question...
I'M ALMOST WHERE I NEED TO BE IN ORDER TO ACTUALLY BELIEVE THAT WE ARE IN FACT LIVING ON A FLAT EARTH WHICH IS UNDER A PROTECTIVE IMPENETRABLE DOME. I HAVE ONE QUESTION LEFT AT THIS TIME HOWEVER AND THAT BEING: HOW ARE ALL THE VISITORS FROM OUT THERE BEYOND OUR WORLD MANAGING TO GET PAST THE DOME STRUCTURE OVERHEAD? -- ARNOLD, via email
Dear Arnold,
Thank you for not only sending this question in on October 21 but following up three weeks later with your “HELLO...DID I SOMEHOW MISS YOUR EARLIER RESPONSE?” query.
I assure you that you did not miss an earlier response because I did not provide one. I will today, however, because I want to reward your persistence.
Yes, I have written quite a bit about the flat earth movement. The compendium is as follows:
They think the world is flat and challenge you to prove them wrong
Here are 10 fascinating reactions to the flat-earth billboard story
The flat-earth billboard movement expands beyond Philadelphia
Did flat-earth site decline $50K offer to run astronaut documentary ad?
In any event, answering this question just days after flat-earthers gathered in North Carolina for their highly anticipated conference seems perfectly timed.
In case you weren’t there, Arnold, here is a glimpse of what happened:
Now, onto your question.
I will answer it myself, but I’ve also invited a flat earth believer and refuter to weigh in. You will find their answers below mine, which starts right now:
I do not believe we are living on a flat earth protected by a protective, impetetrable dome.
Nor am I all that certain that there are “visitors from out there beyond our world” walking among us after having somehow eluded said dome. (Sure, Lionel Messi plays soccer at a level before unseen amongst humans, but I’m pretty sure he has people DNA).
Now that the caveats have been addressed, I want to imagine that your stance is one that has a chance of being accurate.
Let’s presuppose that a) there is a dome above us and b) aliens walk among us.
In that scenario, they must have figured out a pathway through it.
Maybe it’s a wrinkle in the space/time continuum.
Maybe they snuck in before Donald Trump’s ancient ancestors were able to complete construction that had been promised by them during an election.
Or maybe – and this is where my head’s at with it – there’s a “backdoor” akin to what Apple was asked to provide in the wake of San Bernardino last December.
I envision it almost like a hangar at an airport, or a garage in a home. When it is open, the transportation vessel can enter and exit freely, but when it is closed, none shall pass.
That would ostensibly help you bridge that gap between your presented realities.
Now that that’s out of the way, I reached out to Tim Osman, who played a prominent role in my previous flat-earth pieces. He said it's a matter still being debated in flat-earth circles.
“There isn't a perfect consensus among the Flat Earthers," he wrote on Monday. "However, most would agree that 'UFO' and 'Alien' sightings are psychological operations and ploys used by the government to prop up a belief in 'outer space' while also providing a great cover for high altitude sataloons."
On the other side of the proverbial aisle is Timothy Ossman who does not believe the Earth is flat any more than he believes the Loch Ness Monster swims free. Here is his lengthy response when the question was presented to him:
First off, I would like to premise, in order to respond to such assertions you must try and put yourself in the position of the person asking the question.
It is clear that the individual has taken on some of the flat earth propaganda, but is conflicted with another set of conspiracy presupposition that doesn't seem to match.
In order to answer, it I will first answer it as I have heard it explained by flat earthers and then I will pose my own explanation.
Flat earth is extremely divided by differing beliefs of domes, infinite lands, different map projections, simulation Pac Man model theories, distances to the moon and sun and basically everything else imaginable. The existence of aliens to the majority of flat earth true believers is that it is part of the NASA / space programming and it is not to be trusted.
There are countless recordings of flat earthers congregating to reminisce in their lost love of outer space science fiction movies and other media, which of course has been "refuted" by their flat earth "revelation".
Some believe that aliens could come from beyond the dome, "interdomentional," and others believe that they could come from different "puddles" on an infinite plane of different suns doing circuits creating many different worlds, ours being one such "puddle".
It is important to point out the distinction in the question as to a "impenetrable dome," where this is not really held by many flat earthers.
In fact, many have spoken of Operation Fish Bowl where nuclear weapons were detonated in the stratosphere, some claiming of course the intention was in penetrating the dome above. Others have explained Admiral Byrd's expeditions exploring Antarctica and the North Pole, possibly even finding the dome.
The important aspect to point out is the questioner's willingness and readiness to believe something extremely spectacular as long as it makes sense in conjunction with other conspiratorial presuppositions they may hold.
It seems for people like this actual evidence is not required, rather a simple explanation is needed that fits the persons world belief and deep seeded paradigms inductively.
It is very difficult for the average person to challenge their own world belief which can be observed even with globe believers that find the flat earth subject. Many people do not have proper justification for why the earth is a sphere, they just "know" the earth is a sphere, which is no different terms of flat earth believers "knowing" it to be flat.
Dogma and bias are a threat to the objective truth of reality and unfortunate to some their world beliefs do not comport in the least with reality, perhaps more to a dream, a delirium of delusion, or a world they would rather live in subjectively.
The fact is there is more evidence for the Loch Ness Monster than there is for any kind of physical dome structure, furthermore there is no solid evidence for the existence of aliens or alien crafts, rather countless anecdotal accounts of probings usually from mentally ill people as well as film that brings more questions than answers.
People are free to believe what they want in the end but for those that are more analytically brained, these kinds of questions are merely a basis for begging the question and or a reductio rabbit-hole argument that bears no mention in reality until evidence is provided that corresponds with the claims.
Again, Arnold, thank you for bringing this question my way. I hope this response helps.
