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Do you believe in the Flat Earth theory?

Nicolai

The beast that dwells within the Shoutbox
Joined
Oct 18, 2016
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just your imagination
I did my part, I actually spent some time learning about Flat Earth Theory (mostly just because alternate world models are kind of cool). I of course wasn't expecting to be converted, and I still haven't been, but I learned a lot in the process.

For example, the notion that ships should "disappear behind the earth as they sail away" is outdated now that we have sophisticated cameras to capture the act in high quality. I spent some time watching actual videos following ships out to sea, and a set of optical illusions the ocean creates make that misconception a lot more complicated than it seems. And in fact, there are many many cases in which something should be behind the curvature of the earth, yet we can still see them further away than we should. When it comes to evidence like this, you can come up with a way to explain it regardless of what theory you subscribe to.

That being said, there's still overwhelming systematic evidence in favor of a round earth, from flight patterns to NASA to GPS to meteorology to astronomy to the coreolis effect, and there's simply no good motivation to perpetuate such a wide-spread conspiracy. I have yet to see a consistent flat earth model that truly explains everything. The sun doesn't get smaller as it goes over the horizon like everything else, it doesn't spend more time in sunset than it does overhead like a passing commercial plane would, there's no good reason for the moon turning red during an eclipse, and the flat earth doesn't have an origin story or common laws of motion or math! Current models just don't work proportionately: it would be impossible to create a computer-generated model that shows the system working perfectly from an aerial view and any point on the map. The idea that you should be able to "feel" us spinning around the earth should sound juvenile to anyone who's ever ridden in a car or a train. There's a really good video out that debunks the NASA CGi conspiracy theory by comparing NASA footage with top-budget CGi sci-fi Hollywood films at the time (I'm having trouble finding it, though), and it doesn't even compare. Every clip from NASA looks perfect, whereas Hollywood struggles all throughout the 60's and 70's to get space travel looking realistic. tl;dr the pro and con list is comicly uneven.

Still, its important to give these things a chance. As a believer of science I think it is important never to say anything is ever 100% true, and everything should always be questioned and reasoned with. You owe it to yourself to ask the questions and do the research if something challenges the way you view the world.
 
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