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Moon Landing Hoax Theories Explored

The document discusses the conspiracy theory that the 1969 moon landing was faked. It outlines how the theory originated from a man named Bill Kaysing in the 1970s. Kaysing claimed the US lacked the technical ability to land on the moon and that the landing was staged, possibly at Area 51. The document then examines various pieces of evidence used by conspiracy theorists to support their claims, such as a lack of stars or blast craters in photos/videos. It explores how the theory has been depicted and debated in movies, TV shows, and documentaries over the years. While many historians agree the landing was real, polls still find around 5% of Americans believe the moon landing was staged.

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Willy Wonka
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
248 views16 pages

Moon Landing Hoax Theories Explored

The document discusses the conspiracy theory that the 1969 moon landing was faked. It outlines how the theory originated from a man named Bill Kaysing in the 1970s. Kaysing claimed the US lacked the technical ability to land on the moon and that the landing was staged, possibly at Area 51. The document then examines various pieces of evidence used by conspiracy theorists to support their claims, such as a lack of stars or blast craters in photos/videos. It explores how the theory has been depicted and debated in movies, TV shows, and documentaries over the years. While many historians agree the landing was real, polls still find around 5% of Americans believe the moon landing was staged.

Uploaded by

Willy Wonka
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

1969 Moon Landing: A Fake Leap Forward?

ABSTRACT
A lot of historians believed that there are American astronauts who explored the
surface of the Moon in the middle of year 1969 and 1972. During their time on the lunar
surface, each of the Apollo crew located an American flag on the surface of the Moon.
There are 1970's conspiracy theories that have been arised in which the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) forged the moon landings. Most of the
evidences used by the conspiracy theorists are comprised of photographs and films
released by NASA during the Apollo Program. Moreover, there are such arguments
states that the moon landing is a greatest conspiracy theory hoax of all time. This paper
will examine the claims of the conspiracy theorists and will provide clarifications in
support for the historical reality about the 1969 moon exploration

Historical Background of the Theory


On the article made by Godwin (2019), the conspiracy theory of the "Fake Moon
Landing" that happened at July 16, 1969 was all started with a man called Bill Kaysing
and his pamphlet where he claimed that he had inside knowledge of a government
conspiracy to fake the Moon landings, and many conspiracy theories about the Apollo
Moon landings which persist to this day can be traced back to his 1976 book, We Never
Went to the Moon: America’s Thirty Billion Dollar Swindle (Knight 2019). Kaysing
presents his credentials stating that he had worked as an engineer for Rocketdyne, one
of the NASA contractors involved in making rocket engines. In fact, he was actually a
technical writer and head of technical publications at Rocketdyne, and was not trained
as an engineer or scientist.
It began as “a hunch, an intuition”, before turning into “a true conviction” – that
the US lacked the technical prowess to make it to the moon (or, at least, to the moon
and back). Kaysing had actually contributed to the US space programme, albeit
tenuously: between 1956 and 1963, he was an employee of Rocketdyne, a company
that helped to design the Saturn V rocket engines. In 1976, he self-published a
pamphlet called We Never Went to the Moon: America’s Thirty Billion Dollar Swindle,
which sought evidence for his conviction by means of grainy photocopies and ludicrous
theories. Yet somehow he established a few perennials that are kept alive to this day in
Hollywood movies and Fox News documentaries, Reddit forums and YouTube
channels. (Godwin 2019).
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
It was stated in the history that most of the people believed for over a long period
of time that On July 20, 1969, American astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin
became the first humans ever to land on the moon. About six-and-a-half hours later,
Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon. As he took his first step,
Armstrong famously said, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
The Apollo 11 mission occurred eight years after President John F. Kennedy (1917-
1963) announced a national goal of landing a man on the moon by the end of the
1960s. Apollo 17, the final manned moon mission, took place in 1972. (Blakemore
2019). It took 400,000 NASA employees and contractors to put the American
Astronauts on the moon in 1969 – but only one man named Bill Kaysing, spreaded the
idea that it was all a hoax.

Sources:
Knights https://qz.com/1663894/the-origin-of-moon-landing-conspiracy-theories/
Godwin, R. (2019). One giant ... lie? Why so many people still think the moon landings
were faked. Retrieved February 17, 2020 from
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jul/10/one-giant-lie-why-so-many-people-
still-think-the-moon-landings-were-faked
Blakemore https://www.history.com/news/buzz-aldrin-communion-apollo-11-nasa

Movies/ Films/ TV shows of Faked Moon Landing

 Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped onto the lunar
surface on July 20, 1969. Even back then, some people were skeptical that the
feat was technologically possible. The James Bond movie "Diamonds Are
Forever," for example, had a joke about faked moon landings just two years later,
in 1971.
 But what really propelled the conspiracy theory into popular culture, Plait said,
was the 1978 Peter Hyams film "Capricorn One," which portrays a faked human
landing on Mars. (Also, a 1976 self-published pamphlet by Bill Kaysing, "We
Never Went to the Moon," was popular among conspiracy-minded people of the
day.) That was 40 years ago, but moon-hoax enthusiasts are still with us today.
 "The X-Files" brought all sorts of space conspiracies into the public
consciousness in the 1990s and 2000s, and the rebooted version of the show
addressed the moon landing in a 2018 episode. The conspiracy was also
addressed in many other fictional TV shows, from "Futurama" to "Friends."
 Meanwhile, some documentary films and reality-TV efforts — a 2008 episode of
"MythBusters," for example — tried to chase away the conspiracy theory by
educating people. Other filmmakers, such as the folks behind the 2002
mockumentary "Dark Side of the Moon," spoofed moon hoaxers.
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
 Opinion polls over the years regularly show that around 5% of Americans believe
the Apollo moon landings were faked, former NASA chief historian Roger
Launius recently told the Associated Press. That's more than 16 million people,
assuming a U.S. population of 327 million.

Sources:
Howell, E. (2019). Moon-Landing Hoax Still Lives On, 50 Years After Apollo 11. But
Why? Retrieve February 17, 2020 from https://www.space.com/apollo-11-moon-
landing-hoax-believers.html

Cumulative Evidences of Theory:


Here are sensical evidences that supported conspiracy theories of Bill Kaysing
such:

 No Stars
On the videos and pictures taken by NASA, it was seen that stars
were missing from the black lunar sky.

 Capricorn One
Inspired in the 1978 movie "Capricorn one" in which it
portrayed how the government attempted to fool the world
through faking a mission to Mars. Some scenes in the movie
were more likely similar to the recorded Apollo footage. It could
be implied that the NASA's 40 billion budget could possibly
create an realistic scenes to pull off a hoax because they were
not able to land in the moon.
 Area 51
Kaysing theorizes that the lunar moon landings were not
actually on the moon because it were filmed in the Nevada's
high desert at the top secret military based in Area 51. There
were footage about this place that it was strictly guarded by
the military and so it was really hard to seek information.
Moreover, Russian spies satellite taken photos of barren moon
like areas which coincidentally same as the craters seen in the moon.
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
This crater that was seen on the Area 51 acknowledged by
Astronauts.

Moon's Photo of
orbit by crater at
Apollo 10 Area 51

 Engine Noise
Kaysing stated that the noise level of a rocket engine can be very loud as it can reach
a 140-150 decibel range which means that it's impossible to
hear the voices of astronauts having a background noise of a
running rocket engine.

 LEM Design
Another point on the conspiracy was about the prototype Lunar Excursion Module
(LEM) where months before the actual day a flight test
conducted and Neil Armstrong struggled in controlling the
vehicle and when it reached 300 feet he ejected and floats to
safety. And so if the Lander was so unstable to fly in the
controlled environment of earth the how could the LEM land
six times flawlessly in the alien environment of the moon.

 Footprints
Conspiracy theorists stated that the footprints themselves were very suspicious.
According to Kaysing, to have a powerful rocket engine blast
the surface of the moon blasting all of the way of the dust and
then find footprints surrounding the lunar Lander that would be
an impossibility.

 No Blast Crater
Kaysing found his most conclusive pieces of evidence when there's no blast crater
under the landing of LEM in the moon. It was also stated that
there were also no sign of visible blast crater found among the
6 lunar landings.
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

 Gravity
One point in the conspiracy said that although it appears that the astronauts are
moving in the moon's gravity which is 1/6 that of the earth,
Percy, and American award winning film artist, notes that when
the speed is doubled the astronauts appear to be running as if
in the Earth's gravity. Moreover, when the footage of lunar
rover is in doubled speed, it looks likes the typical driving on
earth.

 Flag waving
Kaysing emphasizes that the fact that the flag flaps on the moon when there's no
atmosphere it means that there must be a little blast of wind out
of area 51 where they shoot. In addition, the blow of the wind
might be the reason why astronauts struggled on planting the
into the lunar surface.

 Still photos
The conspiracy showed that the design of the bulky space suits would have made it
extremely difficult for the astronauts to operate their chest
mounted cameras. And so if these were too difficult to be
manipulated, how are thousands of photos taken with crystal
clarity and precise framing

 Artificial Lighting
Conspiracy theorists pointed out that lighting was a major flaw in the lunar photos.
Kaysing said that the astronauts' main source of light was
only the sun but the shadows of photographs from Apollo 14
were casted to different directions suggesting that there were
multiple light source.

 Identical background
This photo seem to have the same mountain backdrop yet the lunar module is only
present in one of them. Seemingly impossible since the LEM
never moved and its based remained even after the mission.
Some suggest the same artificial backdrop was used when
shooting two entirely separate pictures background
discrepancies are also apparent in the lunar video. The best
evidence are some pictorial anomalies in the photographic record of the trip to the
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
moon there is one for Apollo 16 where the same shot the same hill appears in two
different days.

 Cross hairs
Another point was that crosshairs were permanently etched into the lunars cameras
so they would have to appear on top of every image. But in
this photo, a crosshair is behind a part of the lunar rover this
situation is impossible and has to be a result of technical
manipulation and doctoring of the image. And in this photo
from apollo 11 , the equipment of the in the foreground is
covering the crosshair not behind it. And in another from apollo 12, the american flag
is covering one crosshair and the astronaut is covering the other.

 Radiation
Suspicious deaths evidence of doctored photos and flags waving in the airless
vacuum of space are not the only reasons to doubt that we
ever went to the moon. Some says that the astronauts could
not even survived the trip the reason why they couldn’t go to
the moon of a phenomena that few people now about called
the Van Allen radiation belts 500 miles above the earth.
These bands of intense radiations surround our planet and are thousands of miles
thick human being travelling through the Van Allan Belt would have been rendered
either extremely ill or actually killed by the radiation within a short time. \

Reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5ZwUX0uRZE

Conclusions
Whether the flags have remained standing or have survived decades of
exposure to the harsh lunar environment, their legacy as a symbol of the human
exploration of space remains intact.The findings about Moon landing has been
plausible and practical, the given evidences helps to solidify the viewpoints of those who
believe that the moon landing is a hoax. There are clear scientific and technical
explanations for the “discrepancies” that the hoax believers cling to and use as
evidence. , They claim that the purported inconsistencies in the NASA photographic
record were created by “whistle-blowers” within the agency in order to help later
investigators discover proof of the hoax. Belief in moon landing hoax theories has been
solidify by the given testimony such as examining the image and video that is
incongruent to the evidences and analysis, the given evidences was clearly stated on
Bill Kaysings book We never went to the moon 1974 And we also have learned how
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
easy it is for someone to misinterpret what they see in lunar photographs or in a video
frame viewed out of context, the relevance of flag waving is one of the defect why
Kaysing stand firm on his belief, The corroboration to the photographs of the Lunar
modules on the Moon do not show a blast crater on the lunar surface from the force of
the spacecraft engines, thus the shadow are not paralllel to each other, the given
validations aids to figure out the truth behind the conspiracy theory. Kaysing suggests
that the fraudulent still photos and videos were filmed at a secret U.S. military facility
outside of Las Vegas, Nevada, perhaps with the assistance of Hollywood special effects
artists, the area 51 has the wide speculation as the venue in filming moon landing. As
Kaysing explains in the Fox “Conspiracy Theory” show, “The fact that the flag flaps on
the Moon where there’s no atmosphere means that there must have been a little blast of
wind out in Area 51 when they shot this”.
Despite all scientific evidence debunking the aforementioned suggestions,
various conspiracy theories about the moon landing have lingered for five decades, For
those of us who have confidence in the reality of the moon landings it is difficult to
understand why people would believe these claims. Many in the space industry
conclude that it is a symptom of inadequate education or a complete lack of scientific
literacy on the part of the general public. However, belief in the lunar landing hoax is
really not as prevalent as the conspiracy theorists would suggest. It is likely that these
conspiracy theories are just a reflection of our popular culture, in general. People are
often distrustful of government and technology, especially when they don’t know much
about how these things work. Plus, the culture of self-publishing, self-produced video,
and the ease of distributing this information via the Internet all contribute to the
perception that belief that the moon landings were faked is not only prevalent, but is
also spreading.

Can The Simpsons Really Predict the Future?


POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
ABSTRACT
Predicting something is a very difficult one. Most especially, if it looks forward to
into the future. An American animated series, The Simpsons were assumed that it
predicted a lot of particular events that happened and are currently happening in the
world. Furthermore, there are many articles, conspiracy theories and studies regarding
The Simpsons that states about the various phenomenon in which they had been
foretold. Numerous evidences were used by the conspiracy theorists in order to prove
and clarify the real controversies in the show. This study will further determine if the
predictions of the animated show was true. In addition, this paper will be able to impart
such information with regards to the said topic.
Who are the world’s greatest prophets? Jesus? Nostradamus? Bran Stark?
Joseph the Dreamer? The Simpsons? With over 700 episodes and 30 seasons, the
Simpsons set the benchmark for other animated sitcoms. The result is a show packed
with references to art, literature, pop culture, politics and science. It centers on a family
with all the dysfunctions of the modern era but the demographics of the 1950s: two
married parents, two preadolescent children and an infant, living grandparents, aunts,
and uncles. It depicts a normal, modern family. It also displays normal feelings that we
get everyday, like boredom and excitement.
The children are exceptional: Lisa is a superb jazz saxophonist and is inclined to
philosophy and mathematics; Bart is a prankster of the highest order,
a connoisseur of mayhem. The adults are grown-up versions of the children: Homer
Simpson, an operator in a nuclear power plant, is a devotee of beer, doughnuts, and
bacon, while his long-suffering wife Marge is the sound-minded glue who holds the
family together.
The Simpsons has proved itself to be the Nostradamus of network television over
the years, accurately predicting numerous political and cultural happenings. It has
gained its fair share of popularity. Aside from this, The Simpsons is also known for
“predicting” a spectacular amount of major and minor historical events. However, some
of the plotlines are eerily close to events that have happened throughout the world. This
led to countless conspiracy theories about the phenomenon. The show has proliferated
decades of popular political and social beliefs and inspired some of the world’s best-
known memes, quotes, animated photos, and more. While the series is comedy at
heart, some of its episodes are more than just that.
The Simpsons didn’t use to be “part" of the popular culture. It is the popular
culture. However, in the recent years, the relevance of the show has dwindled a little bit.
But there is one thing that the show still manages to get right with astonishing
frequency. The future.
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
“The law of truly large numbers” is a concept presented by the Harvard
mathematician Frederick Mosteller and Persi Diaconis in their 1989 paper Methods for
Studying Coincidences. “With a large enough sample, any outrageous thing is apt to
happen,” the law states. “The Simpsons,” a Fox show, is the longest-running scripted
TV series in history with 673 episodes. Who’s to say that the seeds for these “predicted”
events may have been subconsciously planted into people’s heads by the Simpsons.
Realistically speaking, The Simpsons is great at understanding the culture it inhabits.
With the fact that the show has been around for more than 30 years, it is unavoidable
that The Simpsons would be right more thana few times.

1. Three-eyed fish — Season 2, Episode 4


In this episode from 1990, Bart catches a three-eyed
fish named Blinky in the river by the power plant, which makes
local headlines.

More than a decade later, a three-eyed fish was discovered in a


reservoir in Argentina. Strangely enough, the reservoir itself was
fed by water from a nuclear power plant.

2. The censorship of Michelangelo's David — Season 2, Episode 9

An episode from 1990 titled "Itchy and Scratchy and Marge"


showed Springfieldians protesting against Michelangelo's statue
of David being exhibited in the local museum, calling the artwork
obscene for its nudity.

The satire of censorship came true in July 2016, when Russian


campaigners voted on whether to clothe a copy of the
Renaissance statue that had been set up in central St Petersburg.

3. Siegfried and Roy tiger attack — Season 5, Episode 10


Siegfried and Roy tiger attack the Simpsons 20th Century Fox

The Simpsons parodied entertainers Siegfried & Roy in a 1993


episode called "$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying
and Love Legalised Gambling)." During the episode, the
magicians are viciously mauled by a trained white tiger while
performing in a casino.
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
In 2003, Roy Horn of Siegfried and Roy was attacked during a live performance by
Montecore, one of their white tigers. He lived but sustained severe injuries in the attack.

4. Horsemeat scandal — Season 5, Episode 19


In 1994, Lunchlady Doris used "assorted horse parts" to make
lunch for students at Springfield Elementary.

Nine years later, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland found horse


DNA in over one-third of beefburger samples from supermarkets
and ready meals, and pig in 85% of them.

5. Autocorrect — Season 6, Episode 8

School bullies Kearny and Dolph take a memo to "beat up


Martin" on a Newton device in an episode of "The Simpsons" that
aired in 1994. The memo gets quickly translated to "eat up
Martha" — an early foreshadowing of autocorrect frustrations.
"The Simpsons" was lampooning Apple's underwhelming Newton
— the iPhone's ancient ancestor — that had just been released,
and included shoddy handwriting recognition, according to Fast Company.
6. Smartwatches — Season 6, Episode 19

"The Simpsons" introduced the idea of a watch you could use


as a phone in an episode aired in 1995, nearly 20 years before
the Apple Watch was released.

7. The invention of The Shard — Season 6, Episode 19

The "Lisa's Wedding" episode from 1995 came with a lot of


unexpected predictions. During Lisa's trip to London, we see a
skyscraper behind Tower Bridge that looks eerily similar to The
Shard, and it's is even in the right location.

Construction on the building started in 2009, 14 years later.

8. Robotic librarians — Season 6, Episode 19


POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
In "Lisa's Wedding," we discover that librarians have been
replaced with robots in the "Simpsons" universe.

More than 20 years later, robotics students from the University


of Aberystwyth built a prototype for a walking library robot, while
scientists in Singapore have begun testing their own robot
librarians.

9. The discovery of the Higgs boson equation — Season 8, Episode 1


In a 1998 episode called "The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace,"
Homer Simpson becomes an inventor and is shown in front of a
complicated equation on a blackboard.

According to Simon Singh, the author of "The Simpsons and


their Mathematical Secrets," the equation predicts the mass of
the Higgs boson particle. It was first predicted in 1964 by
Professor Peter Higgs and five other physicists, but it wasn't until 2013 that scientists
discovered proof of the Higgs boson in a £10.4 billion ($13 billion) experiment.

10. Ebola outbreak — Season 9, Episode 3


"The Simpsons" predicted the 2014 outbreak of Ebola 17 years
before it happened. In a scene from the episode "Lisa's
Sax," Marge suggests a sick Bart read a book titled "Curious
George and the Ebola Virus." The virus wasn't particularly
widespread in the 1990s, but years later it was the top of the
news agenda.

11. Disney buys 20th Century Fox — Season 10, Episode 5


In the episode "When You Dish Upon a Star" that originally
aired in 1998, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer produce a script
Homer pitches. The script is being produced at 20th Century
Fox, and a sign in front of the studio's headquarters reveals
that it is "a division of Walt Disney Co."

On December 14, 2017, Disney purchased 21st Century Fox


for an estimated $52.4 billion, acquiring Fox's film studio (20th Century Fox), in addition
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
to a bulk of its television production assets. The media conglomerate also has access to
popular entertainment properties like "X-Men," "Avatar," and "The Simpsons."

12. The invention of the tomacco plant — Season 11, Episode 5


In 1999, Homer uses nuclear energy to create a hybrid of
tomato and tobacco plants: the "tomacco."

This inspired US "Simpsons" fan Rob Baur to create his own


plant. In 2003, Baur grafted together a tobacco root and a
tomato stem to make "tomacco." Writers for "The Simpsons"
were so impressed that they invited Baur and his family to their
offices and ate the tomacco fruit themselves.

13. Faulty voting machines — Season 20, Episode 4


In 2008, "The Simpsons" showed Homer trying to vote for
Barack Obama in the US general election, but a faulty
machine changed his vote.

Four years later, a voting machine in Pennsylvania had to be


removed after it kept changing people's votes for Barack
Obama to ones for his Republican rival Mitt Romney.

14. The U.S. beats Sweden in curling at the Olympic games — Season 21, Episode
12
In one of the biggest upsets at the 2018 Winter Olympics, the
U.S. curling team won gold over the favorite, Sweden. 

This historical win was predicted in a 2010 episode of "The


Simpsons," called "Boy Meets Curl." In the episode, Marge
and Homer Simpson compete in curling at the Vancouver
Olympics and beat Sweden.

In real life the U.S. Men's Olympic Curling Team won a gold medal after defeating
Sweden even though they were behind, which is exactly how it played out on "The
Simpsons." The victory is the second curling medal ever for the United States (not
including Marge and Homer's, of course).

16. Nobel Prize Winner — Season 22, Episode 1


POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES
MIT professor Bengt Holmström won the Nobel Prize in
economics in 2016, six years after he was bet on to win the
Nobel Prize on "The Simpsons."

Holmström's name appears on a betting scorecard when Martin,


Lisa, Database, and Milhouse bet on Nobel Prize winners.

16. Lady Gaga's Super Bowl halftime show — Season 23, Episode 22
In 2012, Lady Gaga performed for the town of Springfield
hanging in midair. Five years later, she flew off the Houston NRG
Stadium roof in real life to perform her Super Bowl halftime show.

17. Daenerys Targaryen's big plot twist in 'Game of Thrones' — Season 29, Episode
1
On the penultimate episode of "Game of Thrones," Daenerys
Targaryen shocked fans when she and her dragon laid waste to
an already surrendered King's Landing, obliterating thousands of
innocent people.

In 2017, on a season 29 episode of "The Simpsons" titled "The


Serfsons," which spoofed various aspects of "Game of Thrones"
— including the Three-Eyed Raven and the Night King — Homer revives a dragon that
proceeds to incinerate a village.

18. Super Bowl XXVI, XXVII and XXVIII


Predicted: 1992, 1993, 1994
Happened: 1992, 1993, 1994
The show predicted the N.F.L. champions three years in a row —
in an episode that was all about predictions.

19. 9/11- Season 9, Episode 1


A coupon for a $9 New York bus features the Twin Towers in
the background, making the ad appear to read “New York $9
11,” spawning many Sept. 11-related conspiracies.
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

20. Disney will buy a big chunk of 20th Century Fox


1998, Season 10, Episode 5: “When You Dish Upon a Star”
An opening shot in this episode shows the 20th Century Fox
logo and “A Division of Walt Disney Co.” underneath it. In
2018, the Walt Disney Co. did indeed buy the entertainment
assets of 21st Century Fox.

21. Donald Trump will be the US president


2000, Season 11, Episode 17: “Bart to the Future”
“We inherited quite the budget crunch from President Trump,”
Lisa, who is the US president, says in this episode, at the time
referencing Trump’s Reform Party candidate run — but now
thought to be predictive of his 2016 election.

Conclusion
The conclusion many have reached, then, is that “The show is the product of
brilliant minds, many Harvard educated… The result is a show packed with references
to art, literature, pop culture, politics, and science.” The natural result of this, writes
William Irwin in The Simpsons and Philosophy, is that “When that many smart people
produce a television show, it’s bound to make some startling ‘predictions.’ The other
thing to bear in mind is just how darn long the show has been going, and how much of a
reputation it has for its predictions in the first place. Combine these two factors, and
you’re bound to hit on examples of the future being “predicted,” and a huge fuss being
made of them when they are. Persi Diaconis and Frederick Mosteller, in their paper
Methods for Studying Coincidences, write of The Law of Truly Large Numbers. It states,
they explain, that “with a large enough sample, any outrageous thing is likely to happen.
The point is that truly rare events, say events that occur only once in a million, are
bound to be plentiful in a population of 250 million people.”
In the case of the show, then, this makes perfect sense. After so many episodes and so
many references to that Simpsons-fied “real world,” they’re bound to hit on some events
that actually do turn out to be real. Educated guesses, in short, and Harvard-educated
guesses at that. As well as this, the Law of Truly Large Numbers could also be referring
to that one fan in a million who notices a building that looks a whole lot like The Shard,
and starts a little hysteria but insisting that that’s what it is.
POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

TOPICS:

CAN THE SIMPSONS PREDICT THE FUTURE?

GROUP 3
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Ecot, Arnold
Garcia, Mary Kristine
Gumidam, Erika
Magbanua, Engel
Magpantay, Felix Andriel
Onedo, Isah Jean
Pablo, Paula
Salazar, Keenly
Santiago, Syrell

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