The final creationism experiment

I don't know if people here were much aware of "the final experiment".
I followed what went down somewhat, and was surprised that a few flat earthers actually changed their minds.

The man behind the experiment, Will Duffy, sponsored the whole thing out of his own pocket. I can only admire him for that kind of resolve. 

I was even more surprised to learn that he was a young earth creationist pastor. And after challenging flerfs, he showed even more bravery by challenging himself on his belief in creationism.

He decided to open himself up to being convinced by YouTuber Gutsick Gibbon. Instead of going into a debate, they chose an interesting way of interacting. Erika wrote what could be seen as an extended course on evolution. Will mainly listens, and saves some criticism to the next episode.
To this date there have been three episodes, which are all pretty long.

I normally do not have the patience for videos of that length, but here I find myself fascinated by what I can learn, and the mutual respect of both parties. Will is very patient with Erika, and asks very pertinent questions. Erika is respectful of Will's ideas and thorough in her explanations.

Just finished the third installment of this series (over four hours).
Here are all three:








Could be interesting for people who get their information on evolution only from people who are professional evolution deniers.

But i am most interested to know what people think about the formula of this (non-)debate.
Is it refreshing, or do you think it is going nowhere? Take a look, if nothing else, you end up with a course on evolution understandable by an interested layman.

But i am most interested to know what people think about the formula of this (non-)debate.
Is it refreshing, or do you think it is going nowhere? Take a look, if nothing else, you end up with a course on evolution understandable by an interested layman.

I was “impressed” (being sarcastic) by how the experiment was received by the flat-earth community, despite the outcome. For example, fellow flat-earther Jeran Campanella publicly acknowledged that observing the midnight sun in Antarctica contradicts the flat-earth model after spending a day there. In contrast, Alabama pastor Dean Odle suggested that Satan had created a fireball to act as a false Sun, while others claimed the experiment itself was a conspiracy. One could argue that since the flat-earth worldview already relies heavily on conspiracy theories, extending those conspiracies to the experimental setup is a relatively small step.

I was “impressed” (being sarcastic) by how the experiment was received by the flat-earth community, despite the outcome. For example, fellow flat-earther Jeran Campanella publicly acknowledged that observing the midnight sun in Antarctica contradicts the flat-earth model after spending a day there. In contrast, Alabama pastor Dean Odle suggested that Satan had created a fireball to act as a false Sun, while others claimed the experiment itself was a conspiracy. One could argue that since the flat-earth worldview already relies heavily on conspiracy theories, extending those conspiracies to the experimental setup is a relatively small step.

For that reason, In the run up to TFE (the final experiment) i honestly thought none of the flerfs would be convinced. At best some of them would be convinced in the moment, but move the goalpost later. So i was honestly surprised TFE had the effect it had.

But i did not start this thread to talk about TFE, i am more fascinated by Will's motivation to learn about evolution. How does an obviously very intelligent person holds concepts like YEC (young earth creationism), and debunking TFE, together in the same mind? How do you compartiment your thinking that way?

If one does not want to watch four hour long videos, i understand. But if you watch the first half an hour of the first video, you might see what interests me in this project.

From the description of the first video:

192,905 views Streamed live on 4 Nov 2025
The title is the whole thing. I'm going to be administering an adapted version of the course I taught as a university instructor to Will Duffy! The course is a hybrid of general evolutionary theory and biological anthropology, and the goal is to teach Will what evolution is and why it is the foundation of modern biology.

Will Duffy is a Colorado pastor, his fame primarily coming from debunking "The Flat Earth Model" by taking several well-known flat earth content creators to Antarctica to witness the 24 hour sun.

Will is also a creationist who promised his audience he would learn about evolutionary theory to decide whether or not he finds it convincing.

This is the first "episode" of what will likely be a year-long engagement: once per month I will administer one lecture to Will using the roadmap (subject to minor changes) below:

Thanks @Sparky. Though I've not yet watched the video, I do find it interesting, not just what people believe, but why. And under what circumstances they might change their mind about something. The latter is particularly problematic. in my view, there seem in my experience to be limited windows of time in a person's life when a dramatic shift of views can occur. Depending on subject matter, some topics may not involve any attachment, while others somehow become embedded, not always beneficially. I don't consider myself outside any of this, it is part of being human I suppose.

I also wasn't aware this 'experiment' was going on, and it was likely because I tuned these people out a long time ago.
I have always had zero tolerance for absolute nonsense beliefs that are so obviously wrong, and so easily corrected. The people who continue with these beliefs have to force themselves to continue by ignoring the obvious. This nonsense is a very unhealthy mind set.
It becomes an illness in a couple of ways. One of the obvious ways is the clinging to false beliefs and refusing to accept proof that you are wrong, or any facts that deviate from your belief. It is a form of belligerent ignorance that persists in a format that can only be interesting to those studying aberrant human mental defects.
Using your religion to try and claim that the facts and science are wrong is another obvious mental challenge.
Number one, we don't need to give these people any platform, or pay any attention to them, because the science is so obviously correct that we don't have to tolerate it.
I have a background in land surveying, and a couple of years of psychology thrown in. Basic trig, geometry, calculus, and algebra will take care of any of the weak arguments about the silly concept of a flat Earth. This tells me that everyone who believes in this is either too lazy or ignorant to do the real and logical math. A weak mind will likely support this silly nonsense belief system. So that sets the stage for the type of intellect and personality we are dealing with. Religion is also often involved in surrendering your frontal lobe and common sense to something that makes no sense when you use your logic. It feels like they are still clinging to the idea of Santa coming down the chimney. So, we are starting with people who think they are being intelligent, and think they are picking something that proves they are being lied to by science, which makes no sense on any level of sanity. Learning the math and doing the measures would prove them wrong immediately, without having to travel to the South Pole. Looking at satellite images would prove them wrong immediately. So anyone that refuses this obvious proof is simply mentally ill.
I'm sure anyone involved in archeology, evolution, biology, or many other scientific areas of study could chime in with how ignorant the young Earth idea is, and how flawed that type of mental belligerence is.
Thus, there is no need to give them any platform, or listen to any of them. There is no need to coddle them, or try to educate them. This type of mental illness goes beyond our abilities, and goes into needing professional mental help.
Personality traits, cognitive bias, delusional disorders and ignorance likely combine with distrust and low intellect to create most of these issues.
I personally think we should be banning the people and groups involved in feeding and supporting such nonsense. No more tolerance and coddling when it comes to this mental health problem.
Feeding this fire is not the way to get these people to see reality, and they will continue to deny their own members who went on this eye-opening journey and discovered a basic truth that they could have gotten with some mathematics.

Oh dear. The "weak mind" catchphrase rides again. Best avoided if you want to be taken seriously. It has been used in the past to argue that the materialist atheist is the one true religion, all else is for the weak-minded. Here on this forum we try to use legitimate argumentation based on evidence and reason, not just a dismissive tone as the tool of choice.

Oh dear. The "weak mind" catchphrase rides again. Best avoided if you want to be taken seriously. It has been used in the past to argue that the materialist atheist is the one true religion, all else is for the weak-minded. Here on this forum we try to use legitimate argumentation based on evidence and reason, not just a dismissive tone as the tool of choice.

Is that all you got from my response? The need to try and censor or correct my own thoughts? No freedom to speak and say what you think? Wow.

I noted that there is a thread about this forum dying off. If this is how you act and react to opinion and fact, I can see why people bail and don't come back. The steering and manipulation is not a good look.

The bottom line is that we have facts and science, which I mentioned, and which is true and legitimate argumentation based on evidence and reason. Thus, we have zero need to tolerate or entertain the flat Earth nonsense or the people who believe in it. 

Too bad you are simply trying to dismiss me and use intimidation tactics to try and negate my comments. Who are you to try and parent me?

Slow down a little bit, please. This isn't about the person. My comment was about the means of expression. How to explain a point of view with clarity. Sometimes less is more, extra words may help to show strength of feeling, but can distract from the original topic.

Slow down a little bit, please. This isn't about the person. My comment was about the means of expression. How to explain a point of view with clarity. Sometimes less is more, extra words may help to show strength of feeling, but can distract from the original topic.

You slow down.  

Here on this forum we try to use legitimate argumentation based on evidence and reason

You just blatantly said my response, my opinion, wasn't legitimate or based on evidence and reason, while discussing Flat Earth nonsense beliefs.
Get your own comments under control. Then you start trying to school me on your opinion of "How to explain a point of view with clarity". Are you seriously going there? Then "less is more" blah blah blah.
Do I look like your student? Did I ask for your help or opinion on writing a point of view with more clarity?
No, I did not. You just jumped right in and tried to bully and intimidate while lecturing me on your opinion. Just like always, and exactly the reason this forum can be so terrible. MIND YOUR BUSINESS.
You think I'm just going to let you bully and intimidate me while you try and make it sound like you are being sane? While you try to correct and parent me?
Wow, this is why your forum has issues. You and others need to get your nonsense under control.