Why I'd like to be a flat-earther

So I’m quitting Youtube again, that time sucker! The problem is you keep telling yourself you stay for the serious content, and you just watch some of the stupid stuff to make your day a little more bearable. But you know what they say. Show me your subscriptions and I’ll tell you who you’d like to be. Show me your browser history and I’ll tell you who you really are. Anyways, a look at my channels list won’t be much flattering either. I have the clear profile of what you could call a Mind-blowers junkie.

In the Internet jargon, a Mind-blower is a new learnt concept or idea that completely shakes your understanding of some aspect of the world. Enough to provoke a strong feeling of awe, undoubtedly with a significant release of dopamine. As for any other addiction, the web provides plenty of this particular kind of content, with the advantage of being quite guilt-free, since the subjects are so “sciency”.

Watching many of these channels does not require a great scientific training. The residue of any former university education would be enough. And sometimes the pay-off is great. As for example with one of the all-time favourites, the Cantor’s Diagonalization, in which all you need is just some high-school knowledge to get an incredible sneak peek on the transfinite mathematics.

The number of these more accessible and rewarding ideas is finite though. Soon the topics of the videos start to repeat themselves, and hence their effect starts decreasing. The search for a bigger rush of that sweet dopamine takes you then to more high-browed channels, where you might get the dose that you need. That’s when you realise you’re fucked (are you allowed to write fuck on LinkedIn?). Because there’s no other solution to continue that path than to study again. And now you probably don’t have the time, and neither the mental strength you once had, to do so.

However, you discover that new sorts of Mind-blowers are possible, with a little effort. So, I came up with my very own ranking of them:

Mind-blower: The basic category we’ve been talking about. Relatively easy to get to, with an immediate feeling of awe. The effect is still temporary, and fades as soon as you return to your everyday life. But you can retry them as many times as you want to. The classic example, about sizes in the cosmos, does the trick every time: Scale of the Solar System, Number of stars in the galaxy, Biggest know structure in the universe…

Night-waker: Second place, where a particular idea starts to haunt you. The one that figurately, or literally, keeps you awake at night. That one for which seeing is not enough - rather, you contemplate. Sticking to the cosmology genre, another classic: What’s beyond the observable universe?

Spine-tickler: We enter the realm of philosophy and thought experiments. If you’re lucky enough to get even just a glimpse of what a meaning for all of this could be, you’ll experience a whole new kind of effect. The name is not arbitrary, that is the actual physical sensation. Unfortunately, there are no answers here. We’ve reached the fringe staff and there are no facts to be tested. Just very, really, truly fascinating theories. Avoid please, however, going down the rabbit hole and discover that we’ve been lied all along!, as it appears to be the trend now. That’s so terribly stupid. To close the cosmologic example, a sadly abused theory: The Simulation Hypothesis.

Mind-bender: The paradigm shifter. The one we junkies are all searching for, but available maybe once every several generations. The comprehension of these new levels of truth can be very disruptive and unsettling. But the hit of awe you get is guaranteed to be the highest possible. Suddenly and dramatically, your perception of the world undergoes a profound shift, and I bet the sensation of your mind adjusting to this new reality must surely evoke a distinct sense of bending. The change of conception about the shape of the cosmos has always been the great provider of this category, with no sign of ever stopping: Eratosthenes’ calculation of Earth’s circumference, Copernicus’ heliocentric system, Einstein’s curved space-time, now challenged by Arkani-Hamed’s new theories…

But in literate societies, it may no longer be possible to experience these more profound primal realizations. It’s still so fun to discover the mechanisms, but we grow up already surrounded by all the answers.

There’s a scene in the film Les Invasions Barbares where the drug addict girl character gives a dose of heroin to the protagonist, a middle-aged cancer patient, to ease his pain. She tells him to concentrate and be aware, as the first shot you ever get is the one that you’re are always trying to repeat. But a baby born from an addict mother will regrettably be an addict herself and, my bizarre point being, also robbed of the chance to experience the intensity of the first dose. And that’s what we amateur science enthusiasts are. Blissful recipients in an age of enlightenment, deprived of the chance of real awe.

That’s why I envy flat-earthers so much. Not those that simply won’t take a no for an answer, but the sincere ones honestly trying to make sense of the world around them with the tools at their disposal. I imagine one of them finally seeing what I already know. Accepting the evidence, connecting the dots. And then, the whole planet painfully, ecstatically, bending inside his head. What an opportunity! Why won’t he take it?

Now I’m trying with podcasts.

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