Ignoring Reality Can Be Dangerous
Mike "Mad
Mike" Hughes, who claimed to be a self taught rocket expert, died on
February 22 after his home-made steam powered rocket crashed in a California
desert 120 miles northeast of Los Angeles. The launch was supposed to carry
Hughes to a height of 5000 feet and provide evidence that the Earth is flat.
His death was confirmed by the San Bernardino sheriff's office and confirmed by
Hughes publicist, Darren Shuster. Shuster also said that Hughes professed to
believe that the Earth is flat only to raise money and publicity for his
stunts.
A video of the flight
shows what looks like a parachute ripping from the vehicle immediately after
launch. The crash shortly thereafter was a freefall impact with the ground
because the remaining chutes failed to deploy. This flight was to be
preliminary to others that were planned to reach high enough for Hughes to
determine any curvature of the planet. Flat-Earthers believe all photos of our
planet from planes and rockets have been doctored to show a sphere. A recent
documentary, "Behind
The Curve", by flat Earth proponents ended with them doing an
experiment that showed that the planet is not flat.
Hughes was a
self-professed daredevil
with a current Guinness world record for the longest jump with a limousine. He
made two similar rocket attempts since 2018 reaching almost 2000 feet with the
first. The second was cancelled because of bad weather.
Hughes was killed
for a publicity stunt fed by encouragement from a loony bunch of conspiracy
theorists who believe that the Earth is flat. Yes, it seems to be flat from our
point of view on the ground, but even ancient peoples figured it out. They did
it by trusting the evidence from multiple experiments and observations, all
without pictures for space. Even with high altitude and space pictures,
flat-Earthers cannot be convinced because they deny any evidence that disproves
their beliefs. They are a cult and not worth wasting time on.
Some may ask what
harm can come from beliefs that defy reality, facts, and science? For one, Mike
Hughes is dead. Hopefully, he knew the risks. Sadly, television's so-called Science
Channel was documenting his attempt to prove something that wasn't up for
debate. Other than Hughes' death, what's the harm?
- How about those who deny the safety and effectiveness of vaccines?
- Or those who deny that our planet is warming dangerously?
- Or those who believe what Donald Trump says even though facts, pictures, and sometimes his own statements, contradict his lies?
- Or when the Trump administration says to not worry about the corona-virus, that they have it under control, when other countries are actually taking serious and competent action that the U.S. can't because of Trump's massive cuts to the budgets and personnel of the agencies that could deal with this potential disaster?
After the Challenger
disaster in 1986, Richard Feynman, on the Rogers Commission, determined
that engineers knew of a problem with the resiliency of O-rings when exposed to
low temperatures. However, they were over-ruled on a launch in cold weather for publicity reasons. Feynman concluded: "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public
relations, for nature cannot be fooled."
John L. Ferri
jlferri@epix.net
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