Flat Earth Discussion

There are several existing flat earth threads, one here, perhaps one in science and a bunch of posts in the abandon all hope sub-forum.
 
Already one thread here in Conspiracy Theories that has been here for a week;another Thread in General Skepticism started Yesterday because of Shaquille O Neal advocacy of the Flat Earth.
 
Last edited:
It takes a very special, almost unique kind of Stupid to deny the evidence of your own eyes (which clearly shows that the surface of the Earth is curved) in order to actually believe that the Earth is flat. Anyone who has ever flown in an airliner that flew high enough (about 35,000 ft or over) can observe this for themselves.

IMO, only a very small number of people who claim the earth is flat actually believe it is so. Additionally, I am sure that the best known flat earth website, http://theflatearthsociety.org, is a Poe, and it originators are having a good laugh at Flat Earthers' expense
 
There's no debate to be had. I'd like to add an analogy, as in, "It's like discussing whether..." but there is no analogy that illustrates the stupidity better than the original premise. It's the most absurd, evidently false and outright brain-shy belief that it's possible to hold, even in theory.
 
Think modern-day gnostic cult. People without much education get to imagine that they know a huge secret that most people are too, stupid to discern.
 
The vast majority of people who espouse the Flat Earth idea have not got the mental skills to operate kitchen utensils unaided either. The remainder are in it solely to bilk the majority of as much money as possible before they wise up. Much like president Trump.
 
Some believe all wars are started by Jews, some believe the world trade centre came down due to lasers and holograms, some believe vaccinations are a population control device, some believe the father of Ted Cruz killed jfk, some believe Obama was born in Kenya.

In general, some people will believe anything.
 
imodium said:
Some believe all wars are started by Jews, some believe the world trade centre came down due to lasers and holograms, some believe vaccinations are a population control device, some believe the father of Ted Cruz killed jfk, some believe Obama was born in Kenya.

In general, some people will believe anything.
Click to expand...

The highlighted portion is true - if by control you mean that you are controlling the levels of resistance in the population to specific diseases.
 
baron said:
There's no debate to be had. I'd like to add an analogy, as in, "It's like discussing whether..." but there is no analogy that illustrates the stupidity better than the original premise. It's the most absurd, evidently false and outright brain-shy belief that it's possible to hold, even in theory.
Click to expand...

Until the rise of the flat earth fad, I thought you couldn't get any dumber than chemtrails, but I was wrong. If something dumber than flat earth comes up (and I can't begin to think what that might be), I think there is no hope for humanity.

Of course, for level of harm in stupid, anti-scientific ideas, anti-vaxers seem to be the champions. Believing the earth is flat is relatively harmless, aside from sheer stupidity. Convincing people not to vaccinate their children will cause some of those children to die needlessly.
 
CORed said:
Until the rise of the flat earth fad, I thought you couldn't get any dumber than chemtrails, but I was wrong. If something dumber than flat earth comes up (and I can't begin to think what that might be), I think there is no hope for humanity.
Click to expand...



Hollow earth.
 
I had an earnest but very misguided young man in the store this afternoon who asked me about the flat earth theory and obviously subscribed to it (along with 9/11, Moon hoax). I may be overrating myself but I did get him to question a few things. ONe example was how he said that snipers did not have to take the curvature of the Earth into account. I pointed out that they did and had to take into account the rotation of the Earth as well.

He was actually searching that when I left, on a whim I looked it up myself and, lo, the 2nd google result is the flat earth society.
 
CORed said:
Until the rise of the flat earth fad, I thought you couldn't get any dumber than chemtrails, but I was wrong. If something dumber than flat earth comes up (and I can't begin to think what that might be), I think there is no hope for humanity.

Of course, for level of harm in stupid, anti-scientific ideas, anti-vaxers seem to be the champions. Believing the earth is flat is relatively harmless, aside from sheer stupidity. Convincing people not to vaccinate their children will cause some of those children to die needlessly.
Click to expand...

I think the problem starts when someone teaches their kids to disregard all information from so-called 'authority', then one thing follows on from another. Flat earthers also believe in chemtrails and all that muck, and are more likely to be anti-vaxers and hold opinions that are actively damaging. To accept one load of horse crap is to open the stable door to the others.

Border Reiver said:
Hollow earth.
Click to expand...

At least that leads to some fun fantasy literature.
 
Varanid said:
Huh. That's pretty neat. I had no idea. What kind of range is necessary to bring earth curvature into the process?
Click to expand...

From all I have read it is a minimum of 1000 yards. Some FE loons triumph that the Marine Sniper Manual does not mention the Coriolis effect, but somehow ignore that the manual specifically says its instructions only work up to 1000 yards.
 
I was surprised to find that this belief is still widespread, but I've done some research and found that there are 'flat-earthers' all around the globe!
 
Karadra said:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/...us_people_who_believe_that_the_earth_is_flat/

Currently there is a thread on Ask Reddit about why people believe in the flat earth hypothesis.
As I said in a comment in the thread, it would be nice to get a discussion going because it has from a scientific stand-point a certain psychological value to it.
Click to expand...

Google Earth is a flat earther's worst nightmare...unless Google is in on the conspiracy to fool the rest of us into thinking the earth is round.

Of all the CTs out there, this one baffles me the most. The fake moon landing conspiracy has a lot more meat on the bone compared to the flat earth theory.
 
Flat Eartherism, at least in whatever current form, seems to be related to the "You can't trust whatever people in authority tell you" crowd.

If you listen to any Flat Earthers it almost never seems to be about the shape of the Earth itself but some broader point cloaked in that performance art language about not trusting "the official story" or vague conspiratorial nonsense about how some single entity controls all the news or other sources of information.

As with a lot of stuff that is so over the top nonsensical it's hard to for a rational person to believe they are being serious part of me is tempted to just call them all Poes and go about my day, but that rationalization has its own set of problems as well.

Do I think that a statistically significant percent of people, even the tiny percent it would take to qualify as an extreme fringe, exist that honestly on an intellectual level think the Earth is flat? Errrr... maybe. It's hard to be sure. I think, although I'm hardly married to this opinion and am fully ready to be wrong on it, that it's more a character act about how the facts don't matter as much as being an individual or not being part of the herd or something over inane pseudo-rebel nonsense.

I think that was is being done is a passion play, an ongoing role playing skit where we're supposed to learn the "moral" that being factually right isn't all that important, probably with some of its adherents far deeper down the rabbit hole then others.
 
Last edited:
^^^There it is^^^. Doesn't matter how outlandish the belief, some people just think you can't go along with the establishment.

Also, I can't work up any interest in what Shaq personally thinks about the cosmos, much as I am not on the edge of my seat over Kim Kardashian's geopolitical musings.

ETA: whoopsie, wrong flat earth thread. Weird that there is more than one
 
Last edited:
kookbreaker said:
From all I have read it is a minimum of 1000 yards. Some FE loons triumph that the Marine Sniper Manual does not mention the Coriolis effect, but somehow ignore that the manual specifically says its instructions only work up to 1000 yards.
Click to expand...

Long range artillery might be a better example - I believe they have to take both curvature and coriolis into account (not that it would matter to a true believer)
 
CORed said:
Until the rise of the flat earth fad, I thought you couldn't get any dumber than chemtrails, but I was wrong. If something dumber than flat earth comes up (and I can't begin to think what that might be), I think there is no hope for humanity.

Of course, for level of harm in stupid, anti-scientific ideas, anti-vaxers seem to be the champions. Believing the earth is flat is relatively harmless, aside from sheer stupidity. Convincing people not to vaccinate their children will cause some of those children to die needlessly.
Click to expand...
Flat earth is definitely dumber than hollow earth. Hollow earth doesn't deny what can clearly be seen, it denies what can not be seen.

I'm not convinced that anyone actually believes the hollow earth, at least some of the proponents are having a good laugh and some are just selling books to rubes.
 
Finster said:
Long range artillery might be a better example - I believe they have to take both curvature and coriolis into account (not that it would matter to a true believer)
Click to expand...

Yep in ballistic gunnery we use to take that into account
 
Some of the FE stuff on RubeTube includes huge doses of Christian fundamentalism, with phrases like "firmament of the heavens" sprinkled in as "evidence". Seemed to me like a weird mashup at first but I suppose it's not very far from talking snakes to the earth as a big Frisbee.
 
smartcooky said:
Well said you clueless, skill-less wizard!!
Click to expand...

That's not entirely correct. If Rincewind had never opened the Octavo and had one of the Great Spells lodge in his head, there's no telling how good he might have been as a wizzard (with two z's).
 
c8e.jpg
 
Finster said:
Long range artillery might be a better example - I believe they have to take both curvature and coriolis into account (not that it would matter to a true believer)
Click to expand...

Absolutely.
Both are calculated into the standard firing charts redlegs use.
 
Most of us just use the handy charts in the firing tables to work it out.

It's been a couple of years, but I believe that the compensation for the rotation of the earth is found at Table J.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom