(ORDO NEWS) — It would seem that the 21st century is in the yard, technologies are improving every day, people have been flying into space for a long time, but the theory that the Earth is actually flat will not die. Here’s why flat earthers are so hard to convince.
If, according to the conspiracy theory, the Earth is flat, then the rest of the planets should be the same? Or not?
The fact that the Earth is actually round was said by Aristotle 2500 years ago. And if his contemporaries had the right to doubt the words of the scientist, then modern people have much more evidence that our planet has a spherical shape.
Are flat earthers a joke?
The flat-earther community was formed back in the 1950s and still exists – that is, neither human spaceflight nor scientific research could convince them. Any evidence, including photographs of the planet from orbit, is perceived by the community as a complex conspiracy theory, in which the heads of several states are involved.
It may sound funny, but the flat earth community is not just a collection of people around the world. In fact, the community has its own president (Daniel Shenton), scientists and speakers (Robbie Davidson).
According to the Smithsonian magazine, which is published by the state Smithsonian Institution (USA), the number of members of the Flat Earth Society reached 3,500 people after its creation in 1956. Today, the society has shrunk considerably, to about 500 people.
Moreover, it is curious that some flat earthers oppose the Society, because they consider it a dummy state body designed to ridicule their position. The Flat Earth Society itself denies this theory, convincing everyone around that they sincerely believe in the plane of the planet.
What do flat earthers believe?
Obviously, the basis of the worldview of flat earthers is the belief that the Earth is not spherical. However, if you dig deeper, you will find a few more interesting misconceptions.
Adherents of this conspiracy theory believe that the Earth is a disk with the Arctic Circle and Antarctica in the center. At the same time, it is surrounded by an ice wall 45 meters high. But no one can get close to it, because it is guarded by NASA – they make sure that people do not climb the wall and do not fall from the Earth’s disk.
Moreover, flat earthers also deny the gravity of the Earth. In their opinion, there is no attraction, and all objects remain on the surface of the disk due to its acceleration – that is, it flies upward with an acceleration of 9.8 m / s 2 under the influence of some kind of dark energy.
At the same time, some conspiracy theorists still doubt the reality of such acceleration – after all, according to Einstein’s theory of relativity, the Earth cannot accelerate infinitely in such a way that it does not eventually exceed the speed of light. Apparently, the basic physical laws still operate in this alternative version of reality.
What shape do the other planets have then?
It is logical to assume that since the Earth is actually a disk, then other planets and stars cannot be spherical either. However, some adherents of the theory believe that this is not necessary at all.
That is, in their opinion, our planet is really flat, but the Moon and the Sun are spherical. It seems that this is it – we have found at least some point of intersection with reality!
But that was not the case – flat earthers believe that both the Moon and the Sun move in a circle above the Earth’s plane at a distance of 4828 km and illuminate the surface like giant searchlights.
And some even believe that the moon is a large projection, and it actually does not exist.
Why flat earthers are so hard to convince
As it turned out, ordinary scientific evidence cannot convince the flat-earthers, and a special way of thinking is to blame for this – the zetetic one.
It is a kind of scientific skepticism that was invented by conspiracy theorists in the 19th century. Based on sensory observations – that is, since people do not fall up on different sides of the globe of the Earth, then the planet is flat (if very simple).
In zetetic astronomy, the Earth is flat, and a point. At the same time, adherents of the theory try to come up with various near-scientific explanations that prove their belief. Such details seem rather absurd, but for flat earthers, the arguments of the scientific community sound no less ridiculous.
As incomprehensible as the flat-earthers’ belief system may seem, psychologists are not surprised. Experts note that most often the various beliefs of conspiracy theorists are consistent with each other, because they have one thing in common – a certain common “enemy” that deceives everyone around, but not them.
At the same time, the so-called “minority effect” affects flat-earthers. If you observe the adherents of this theory, it turns out that they are convinced that they are right much more than people who do not doubt the sphericity of the Earth.
It turns out that when a person is faced with a clearly argued position that does not have flaws as such (because a new pseudoscientific explanation is invented for each counterargument), it is much easier for him to believe that this is true.
And psychologically, we want to believe in something stable – that will not change, on the basis of which we can build our vision of the world.
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