In the past, if you did not know something, you asked an expert like a doctor, teacher, or reporter to explain it to you. Now, millions look to shysters, snake oil salesmen, and “influencers” and, as a result, a Joe Rogan bit needs a debunking.
For those who have never watched or listened to the comedian’s The Joe Rogan Experience podcast on the platforms where it is hosted (you are lucky, on a side note), he often has guests on who run the gamut from widely accepted to wackadoodle. A recent person from the latter group who came on to chat with him was YouTube broadcaster Jimmy Corsetti, and, while speaking, he shared the nonsensical “Adam and Eve” theory that the Earth flips every 6,500 years 90-degrees for six days and on the seventh day corrects itself. In the clip, Corsetti — who has no degree in science but instead went to school for marketing, communications, and religious studies — says the idea “is science” and when it happens there will be chaos like mankind has never seen in its history.
“Earth essentially does a standstill, the sun will be direct — will basically stay in the same spot, causing heating like we’ve never experienced — and that the wind and the waters continue with their momentum, because essentially the wind travels at approximately 1,000 miles an hour at the equator, so the theory is that when that event happens it’s going to be cataclysmic.”
In the aftermath, posts resharing the claims from the man who has also theorized on Atlantis (which the ancient Greeks did not take seriously whatsoever) and said you can cure years of depression in days thanks to a dry sauna (yes, really) have racked up millions of views. TikTok has pledged to counteract such content with a new policy against disinformation, but, so far it remains accessible and over at The Verge, actual scientist Martin Mlynczak of NASA’s Langley Research Center says this is ludicrous.
“It’s just unfortunate that these things are being put out there. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. And there’s no proof and no science and no physics behind any of the claims about the magnetic field change being associated with climate change. There’s no evidence that the planet has or ever will make that kind of 90-degree flip — where the Arctic would be where the Antarctic is and vice versa. That is total bogus. If that’s what happened every 6,500 years, we would certainly see it; it would be in all records … The amount of energy to bring that about is tremendous. You know, there’s nothing to initiate it.”
Earth’s magnetic poles DO shift, but not remotely in the way mentioned in Rogan’s podcast and subsequent TikTok videos. The process takes place very slowly and has only reversed 183 times over the last 83 million years and, when it does occur, the magnetic field weakens and then grows in strength in the opposite direction. If one happens, human beings are likely to not notice it whatsoever and when pressed about the theory, Corsetti told The Verge he was taken out of context in TikTok videos. He says in the full show he is explaining differences between normal science and theoretical belief and theories are not accepted science.
As well, the “Adam and Eve” theory comes from a 1965 book by Chan Thomas. In it he also claims Jesus was abducted by aliens and considering this is a major part of Corsetti’s channel and Rogan’s show, it is likely it could be revisited by them in the future in between talk about aliens, time traveling, false nonsense about the 9/11 attacks, and the idea that space is somehow a fake concept. All of those are real segments, and, there is no word on whether they have turned the brains of those who watch into pudding.
Where’s Bill Burr for a dressing-down when we need him? Probably busy, but, if he ever did address the nonsense on Rogan’s show again, he would certainly have a lot to work with. The host has been fooled by fake vaccination tweets, has talked about shooting the homeless, said he may bring Andrew Tate on to have a conversation, and has shared fake Steven Seagal news in addition.