When Fantasy and Science Collide
Terry Pratchett and his Discworld series of novels may seem like fantasy to most of us, but to some the vision of a flat disc-like world is a reality…
Incredibly, right now in the 21st Century, there is a growing surge in popularity for the belief that the Earth is flat. Once dismissed as irrational fools that would eventually go away, they are now starting to fight back with ever increasing complexity in their arguments to support their misguided conviction. They say that society has been misled by government conspiracy into believing that the Earth is a globe, although the reasons for why such a conspiracy would be needed are a little less clear. The most common hypothesis put forward seems to be that it is in order to continue faking space travel and embezzle the funds left over.
Think about it for a moment… how many people would need to be in on this cover-up?
Pilots, astronauts, governments, Elon Musk and his SpaceX Company and all its employees, meteorologists and the whole scientific community would need to be collaborating on this, not to mention most of their family members.
The Russian Roscomos Space Agency and America’s NASA, have apparently been so successful in fooling society that the Earth is round that China, Europe and India have started their own space programs, and have joined in on the conspiracy.
You couldn’t make it up. Well luckily, you don’t have to because the Flat Earth Society has done it all for you. You can visit this website here and gaze at it in awe, possibly in much the same way as you would watch a chimp’s tea party, or watch me attempting to dance gracefully.
Trolls or Genuine?
After initially discovering this ever growing community of the Flat Earth Theory on social media, I assumed they were just another version of online trolls. It wasn’t until I read some of the comments that I realised they genuinely believed what they were saying, although I am sure some of them are just doing it to amuse themselves and laugh at the outraged replies to their comments. It’s almost like coming across a fully grown man who believes in Santa Claus and who has managed to make a rationale for every law of physics such a mythical character would need to break in order to deliver on his role.
It’s almost like coming across a fully grown man who believes in Santa Claus and who has managed to make a rationale for every law of physics such a mythical character would need to break in order to deliver on his role.
Celebrities are starting to be rolled out by the Flat Earth Society too.
Shaquille O’Neal, the former NBA basketball star and B.O.B. whose real name is Bobby Ray Simmons Jr a rap artist, are two of the most well-known of these. Rumours originating from a spoof website that President Donald Trump is a proponent are false, however.
So, enough of my incredulity, let’s have a look at some of the claims that ‘prove’ the Earth is a flat disc and not a globe at all…
The Claims
- Gravity is a lie.
- There is no curvature of the horizon.
- Satellites are a hoax and photographs of the Earth are photo-shopped, whilst Computer Generated Imagery is used to create videos of the planet’s global look.
- Water would fall off the planet’s surface if we are spinning on a globe.
- Space agencies are in reality using their huge budget to control missiles from space.
- The Arctic Circle is the centre of the disc and Antarctica is a 150-foot high wall of ice at the outer rim of the disc.
- NASA employees guard the rim.
- The sun and the moon are spheres (!) that move in circular motions 3,000 miles above the Earth, creating night and day.
- Albert Einstein was a fraud.
- An ‘Anti-moon’ causes eclipses
Continue reading here: The Flat-Earth Fallacy