 |
| CREDIT: marema/Shutterstock.com |
I cannot for the life of me understand how people come to believe in the wildest of conspiracy speculations*. I include here not only the moon landing denialists, but also the 9/11 truthers, the birthers, the grassy knoll-ers, Area 51-ers, and all the rest.
In episode 104, the Mythbusters, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, debunked the ideas that the shadows are all wrong, the U.S. flag was waving in a breeze, footprints can't be made in the vacuum of space, and the film was slowed down to simulate the moon's gravity.
I came across this interesting video of writer/director S.G. Collins. Collins comes at this false notion from the perspective of a director.
* I refuse to use the term 'conspiracy theory.' As a scientist, the word theory holds a special place. From the National Academy of Sciences:
The formal scientific definition of theory is quite different from the everyday meaning of the word. It refers to a comprehensive explanation of some aspect of nature that is supported by a vast body of evidence. Many scientific theories are so well established that no new evidence is likely to alter them substantially. For example, no new evidence will demonstrate that the Earth does not orbit around the sun (heliocentric theory), or that living things are not made of cells (cell theory), that matter is not composed of atoms, or that the surface of the Earth is not divided into solid plates that have moved over geological timescales (the theory of plate tectonics)...One of the most useful properties of scientific theories is that they can be used to make predictions about natural events or phenomena that have not yet been observed.
 |
| Earth Rise, 24 December 1968. CREDIT: Bill Anders, Apollo 8 crew member |
No comments:
Post a Comment