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The Flat Earthers Are Still With Us

Posted by timothy on from the until-the-end-of-days dept.

narcberry writes "The BBC reports on a scientific community still holding to flat earth theories. From their article: 'Are there any genuine flat-earthers left? Surely in our era of space exploration — where satellites take photos of our blue and clearly globular planet from space, and robots send back info about soil and water from Mars — no one can seriously still believe that the Earth is flat? Wrong. Flat earth theory is still around. On the internet and in small meeting rooms in Britain and the US, flat earth believers get together to challenge the 'conspiracy' that the Earth is round.'"

49 of 578 comments (clear)

  1. Scientific community? by Aardpig · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well, that's obviously not the right thing to call them...

    --
    Tubal-Cain smokes the white owl.
    1. Re:Scientific community? by unfasten · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The more correct thing to call them would be a co-host on The View.

    2. Re:Scientific community? by jacquesm · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I think I can live with the flat earthers a good bit more than I can with the creationists. They're really out with an agenda. It's no secret that there have always been people with less than optimally functioning critical faculties...

      --
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    3. Re:Scientific community? by Curtman · · Score: 4, Funny

      You just wait until we adjust the curriculum to reflect reality.

      The roundists have been spreading their lies for far too long.

    4. Re:Scientific community? by Kneo24 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I completely agree. There is no scientific basis for the "flat earth theory". None. Zero. Zilch. They can use whatever "scientific" (pseudo-science in this case) means they'd like, but that doesn't necessarily make it scientific. It is a proven fact that the Earth is round. So are other planets.

      I wish people would stop calling cretins who pretend to use science as scientists. It soils the good name of science!

    5. Re:Scientific community? by Kneo24 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I know, replying to myself here, but I did do what's forbidden around here. I read the fucking article. These guys are god damn crack pots. The Earth is infinitely horizontal? Have they ever held a ball in their entire life? Do they have any sort of concept of perception?

      What's even more irritating is that yes, they also believe the earth is circular, which sort of contradicts their infinitely horizontal theory. Someone important tell this dick-weeds to fuck off and stop breathing my precious air. I hereby decree that they are too stupid to function in a normal society.

    6. Re:Scientific community? by pxlmusic · · Score: 5, Insightful

      what's more fcuked up is that these idiots are breeding.

      --
      "If for any reason you're not satisfied with our service, I hate you."
    7. Re:Scientific community? by conlaw · · Score: 4, Interesting

      When you start adjusting the curriculum, be sure to include the views of this important group: http://www.manwillneverfly.com/index.htm

    8. Re:Scientific community? by dmoen · · Score: 5, Funny

      Do you have any evidence to support your assertion that Flat Earthers have the ability to get laid?

      --
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    9. Re:Scientific community? by Yvanhoe · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Someone tells these humorless Americans that humor can take many faces. What flat-earthers are doing is quite admirable in fact : they take the challenge of defending a view that is contradicted by almost every fact of normal life and try to create a coherent if convulated theory about it.

      --
      The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
    10. Re:Scientific community? by nasor · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I actually went to their web page, and it seemed pretty clear that it was a tongue-in-cheek joke. Although I'm sure they're all having a BIG laugh at how worked up everyone is getting over the whole thing.

    11. Re:Scientific community? by deadmantyping · · Score: 5, Funny

      The Earth is flat, just within a curve space. Oh snap! Did I just blow your mind!

    12. Re:Scientific community? by Jonny_eh · · Score: 5, Funny

      Sometimes I wonder if the creationists are an elaborate parody too. Have you ever heard their arguments?

    13. Re:Scientific community? by FishWithAHammer · · Score: 5, Informative

      The Flat Earth Society was created as a big joke in the first place. Most of the people posting there (myself included) are doing so as a tongue-in-cheek joke.

      Yeah, there are a few nuts in there who actually believe it, but you'll get stupid beliefs anywhere.

      --
      "You can either have software quality or you can have pointer arithmetic, but you cannot have both at the same time."
    14. Re:Scientific community? by StormReaver · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "Someone tells these humorless Americans that humor can take many faces."

      When the crackpots (such as the creationists) invade your school systems, you'll lose your sense of humor, too.

    15. Re:Scientific community? by houghi · · Score: 5, Funny

      Flat and round earthers can live together in harmony. The earth is both flat and round. Just like a pizza.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    16. Re:Scientific community? by Gonoff · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It sounds to me like uou are unable to believe that there is nobody that dense.
      Bob Heinlein wrote "Never understimate the power of human stupidity.

      If people are so pusposely ignorant as to ignore the evidence about one thing, they will find it easy to ignore other truths as well.

      I find it very believable that a small but vocal bunch of amazingly stupid people think the earth is flat. If they do, they will certainly have other foolish opinions as well.

      --
      I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
    17. Re:Scientific community? by ale_ryu · · Score: 5, Insightful

      We should do to them exactly what they did to our guys 500 years ago, burn them, hang them, etc., at least we have proof we're right :P

      Now, seriously speaking, it's obvious these guys are trolling, and they've put a lot of effort in it. Considering most of the slashdot community actually got angry at them I'd say they have succeded. Yep, these guys are successful trolls :P

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    18. Re:Scientific community? by BewireNomali · · Score: 4, Insightful

      creationism is an opiate. it makes people who need it feel better about their existence. i can imagine that the guy who spins wonderous tales of magical beings can get laid - depending on his charisma, etc. it got jk rowling billions of dollars. *shrugs*

      and yes i did compare the bible to harry potter.

      flat-earthers? these guys do not get laid.

      --
      un burrito me trampeó.
    19. Re:Scientific community? by rhyder128k · · Score: 5, Funny

      This flat earth nonsense is easy to disprove. Just get an illustrated bible and look at Genesis. The Earth is clearly round in many modern editions that I have seen. They'd probably get around it by claiming that those versions of the bible were reinterpreted by human beings and different from other versions of the bible. Yeah right, that logic would prove that every existing bible is false. But that's just how whacky a flat-earther can be.

      --
      Michael Reed, freelance tech writer.
    20. Re:Scientific community? by wideBlueSkies · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Agreed, that is a parody site.

      Prior to the group's leader dying (in the last 10 years or so), there was a more serious website maintained, with documentation on their theories/beliefs, etc.

      This guy had the global believers (yeah, global) pretty well organized - he'd collect membership fees, mail out newsletters, set up conferences, the usual for someone runnign a group. After his death, as expected, no one picked up his work, and things started to fall apart.

      Don't let the parody site fool you. The Flat Earth people are as entrenched in their belief as normal people are about the world being a globe.

      --
      Huh?
    21. Re:Scientific community? by dgatwood · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That theory is comedically easy to disprove. The distance from San Jose, CA to DFW airport is 1,685 miles. At five hours or so for the flight, that comes to on the order of 300 MPH. A bus traveling that speed on land would not make it. The tires would blow out after a few thousand feet at such a speed. Even if you could get around this problem with a new tire design, you'd still have the problem of hitting people and vehicles on the way. And, of course, if there were some elaborate theatrical production outside a plane traveling at such a rate, the people would fly away themselves. Oh, and I would add that with the number of people in and around these two airports, surely someone would have seen these 300 MPH busses if such a story were true.

      --

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    22. Re:Scientific community? by Ernst+Hot · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Which is why Nathan Poe formulated Poe's Law

    23. Re:Scientific community? by jd · · Score: 4, Funny

      The current land-speed record is a fraction over mach 1. Admittedly, this involved a bus only insofar as said bus provided a means for journalists and mechanics to reach the site, but it does mean that the tire argument alone is insufficient. The current land-speed record for a television journalist is over 300 mph, but he did indeed suffer a tire blowout. His survival and continued career, despite massive head injuries, does however prove that you don't need brains to be a TV celebrity.

      --
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    24. Re:Scientific community? by MonoSynth · · Score: 4, Funny

      Okay, but let's see this in the perspective of a flat earth as they call it. In fact the earth isn't flat our round(ish). It has it's own unique dimensional system. The Round Earth theory is made by the New World Order government (USA, 'former' USSR, China, Japan and the EU) after they discovered this Earth-specific dimension system.

      This system is so complex, it's ungraspable for most of mankind, but that would lead to the realization by us proles that we're not as smart as we think we are, reducing our level of self-confidence to that of the non-NWO countries (the cheap labour slaves). So they invented the Round Earth theory by providing (manipulated) pictures of a round earth, all made by combining photo's taken from hot air balloons. Steve Fossett had a big role in this project, but about one year ago he had some personal issues with some of the conspiracists and he threatened to write a book about the true shape of the earth.

      They also provide 'pictures' of other round planets, just to let us believe that there are more round planets and that it's a perfectly normal thing for a planet to be round.

      But as I said, the truth is as good as ungraspable. There are all sorts of complexities involved. The teleport from one end to another, for example. It prevents people from falling off the earth (but it also (still) prevents us from knowing what's underneath the earth). It's easily exploited to cross the pacific ocean from Japan to the USA, for example. This teleport-thing also makes it possible to strenghthen the Round Earth theory.

      And what to think of the amazingly complex gravitational system that puts us on the earth and manages to move the sun, moon and stars in predictable yet complex ways? They just recently started to understand this system and made use of it to place satellites in 'orbit' without falling down (how else do you think that satellites always stay on the same place? By moving just exactly as fast as the earth? Impossible. They're just hanging there in the flat, static sky).

      It's exactly those people that managed to analyze the inner workings of the teleport and made their own teleports and placed them in populated areas around the world, calling them 'Airports'. They attached bird-like wings to the buses that bring people to the teleports, just to make them believe they were going to fly through the air. In fact, the plane doesn't come off the ground, it's just replaced with a laser projected version while the real bus ('plane') is taxied to the teleport to be teleported to another 'Airport'. The windows are in fact hi-res screens. The current system is still pretty slow though (but a lot faster than boats and trains!), but in the future it will allow us to be teleported to anywhere in the world in seconds. Maybe even with a pocket 'aeroplane', but that won't be released to the public before they find a way to masquerade it as something that fits in the Round Earth theory.

      Oh, and btw, the Flat Earth Theory is made by the same conspiracists, just to give the non-believers something else to believe in.

    25. Re:Scientific community? by AmishElvis · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I strongly suspect that these guys are the ultimate trolls. I think "Flat Earth" is a giant exercise in keeping a straight face.

    26. Re:Scientific community? by ChromaticDragon · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Maybe.. maybe not..

      I had a history teacher in High School who purported to be a Flat-Earther. This chap was a very good humanities/history teacher. He had all sorts of ways to bring alive one of the more boring subjects (at least for teenagers who won't figure out for another decade or two why it's one of the most important subjects). This was also my wrestling coach. So for many reasons we respected this man. And he did have a good sense of humor.

      But we had no idea why he claimed to believe the Earth was flat. To this day, I'm still not certain if this was real, tongue-in-cheek or yet another creative teaching methodology. He did put most of the students on the spot to defend why we believed the Earth was round. Almost none of us had any other answer than things like "but... but... people have gone up and taken pictures". None of us could explain how for several millenia all educated folk have known the Earth was round based a few obvious things such as the way a ship disappears over the horizon, the fact that the shadow of the Earth on the moon is always round and things like certain constellations going out of sight as folk travel north or south. This was well before the Google age where someone in the classroom could have found all that in a couple of minutes on the web.

      In any case, you need not fear alternative ideas (even blatantly false goofy ones) in your school systems. If anything you should fear people trying to coopt the boards to ensure goofy ideas are taught in a non-critical fashion. But then, if you have any idea of the history of schools and school boards in America, you're probably jaded anyhow.

    27. Re:Scientific community? by rk · · Score: 4, Insightful

      We've seen the resulting universe from what may have been a big bang, or a sudden creation, or a complete non-event, but we have no proof of any of them.

      The moment you break out a word like "proof", you are already on the express bus out of Scienceville. Science is about coming up with theories that match observations, and can make predictions about future observations. The reason why scientists generally regard the Big Bang Theory as a good theory is because it fit observations made at the time and is confirmed by more observations made since that the theory predicted. When observations are made that don't fit the theory, the theory gets elaborated on (in the case of relativity refining Newton's classical mechanics) or outright rejected (luminiferous ether, phlogistons). A theory can be disproven, but can never really be proven.

      Any reasonably honest scientist will cheerfully acknowledge that the current understanding of cosmology, evolution, or any other science doesn't represent the whole truth, or even a truth, but are models to explain what we see in nature. If science had all the answers, we'd have no need for further science research!

    28. Re:Scientific community? by risk+one · · Score: 4, Funny

      And the fossils are like pepperoni slices that God topped his pizza with to test our faith. It all adds up.

    29. Re:Scientific community? by Profane+MuthaFucka · · Score: 4, Funny

      I think I have found in you a kindred spirit!

      P.S. Wanna fuck?

      --
      Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
    30. Re:Scientific community? by jagdish · · Score: 5, Funny

      There is no light. The Sun sucks dark. In fact it sucks dark so hard that the friction of the dark moving to the Sun causes the Sun to be very hot. The flow of dark towards the Sun interrupted by the Earth causes the side of the Earth away from the Sun to accumulate dark, thus causing Night. As the Earth rotates the dark caught on the night side can then be pulled off, this causing the absence of dark known as Day.

      What we call light bulbs are truly dark suckers as well. That is why light bulbs are hot, just like the Sun. When a light bulb is full of dark and won't suck dark any more, it cools off. If you look in old light bulbs you can even seen the accumulation of dark.

      Dark is also heavier than water. This can be seen in the oceans where the deeper you go the darker it gets.

      (Source unknown)

  2. Wow.. Just Wow by Namors · · Score: 5, Funny

    Cue the Turtles

    --
    Dual Century Programming: Yeah I know ... But it sounds Good
  3. Which is worse by yamamushi · · Score: 4, Informative

    I can't decide which is worse, the Flat-earthers, or the hollow-earthers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollow_Earth . I heard some guy on C2C the other week spouting out some nonsense about looking for a hole in the arctic that would prove the earth was hollow, I can't believe people still believe this crap.

    --
    - Aetheral Research -
  4. WOOOSH!! @ Americans by EEPROMS · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Im Australian so I can understand the subtle nature sarcastic english humour. Sorry I have to rush off I have a committee meeting on a new funny walk that needs approval...

  5. Yeah, the Earth is flat! by xayide · · Score: 5, Interesting

    My Uncle belonged to this society when he was in college in the 1970's. He likened it to the SCA. I love these guys because they will never, ever admit to the joke.

    1. Re:Yeah, the Earth is flat! by magarity · · Score: 4, Funny

      I love these guys because they will never, ever admit to the joke
       
      It's like going to a Star Trek convention and talking to someone dressed up as Spock. He will never, ever, break character for the entire weekend.
       
      Maybe not even after going home but that's between him and his mother.

  6. So what? by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Flat earthers etc. are fine with me so long as they don't all join the school board and force the teaching of their ideas in public schools.

    1. Re:So what? by Tack · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The implicit comparison is apt. Denying a round earth is quite close in ignorance to denying evolution.

    2. Re:So what? by 1u3hr · · Score: 4, Interesting
      The implicit comparison is apt. Denying a round earth is quite close in ignorance to denying evolution.

      The vital difference is that probably 99% of avowed Flat Earthers don't actually believe it. They are just playing a role and defending an absurd position as an intellectual exercise, like a debating club where you have to advocate a point of view regardless of your personal beliefs.

  7. I still have my BIG doubts... by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How do we know it's not a club of pranksters who want to fool the world into believing flat-earthers still exist?

  8. Re:Duh! by dada21 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Personally, I believe the earth is flat. I also do believe that the Internet is a myth. The Internet was created in an instantaneous moment when an Eliza program on a BBS gained self-recognition. What you read, right now, is really just this Eliza application that is creating exactly what you want to see. Since the software has gained so much knowledge, it is giving you the impression that you're actually talking to others, when in fact you're not.

    The dilemma is whether or not I am real, or if I am just another creation of Eliza, the creator of all things web. You should be impressed that Eliza has taken such a strangehold on your life: forums do not really exist other than your own posts, and neither does FTP or ssh. All are just creations that Eliza has performed for you, and only you.

    Makes you change your stance on how much time you're spending on slashdot with "us," doesn't it?

  9. Re:Not Necessarily News by alexgieg · · Score: 4, Informative

    I think that the term 'News' should not apply to a 500-year old debate.

    I think you're confusing two different things. 500 years ago people discussed whether the Earth was fixed of movable, but no one had any doubt whatsoever about it being a sphere. Earth's shape, and even its rough diameter, have been acknowledged scientific facts for way more than two millennia.

    Fix your sentence to "I think that the term 'News' should not apply to a 2400-year old debate", remove your reference to the Aztecs, and your post will be in the correct time frame. ;)

    --
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  10. Dont apologise for the downtime yet. by simpleguy · · Score: 4, Funny

    From the Flat Earth Society Forums:

    "News: The Flat Earth Society forums are back up! I apologise for the downtime. The problem has been resolved and won't happen again...."

    Far from the several thousand kilometres of flat earth, comes the slashdot effect. Expect downtime again.

  11. Re:Duh! by What'sInAName · · Score: 5, Funny

    How does believe the earth is flat make you feel?

  12. Re:Not Necessarily News by xayide · · Score: 5, Informative

    You can prove the Earth is round by looking at a lunar eclipse. Educated people have known the shape of the Earrh for thousands of years. I have no idea why they teach us as children that everyone thought Chris Columbus would sail off the edge of the earth.

  13. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  14. Fake, fake and fake. by k33l0r · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think someone is pulling a great prank. Just read this section in their FAQ:

    Q: "What's underneath the Earth?" aka "What's on the bottom?" aka "What's on the other side?"

    A: This is unknown. Some believe it to be just rocks, others believe the Earth rests on the back of four elephants and a turtle.

    That's straight of of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series.

  15. Re:Why did this get Slashdotted? by WK2 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There is proof that the world is not flat. There will never be proof that God does not exist.

    --
    Write your own Choose Your Own Adventure. http://www.freegameengines.org/gamebook-engine/
  16. These guys provide a valuable service. by Fantastic+Lad · · Score: 4, Interesting

    They provide fodder so that the self-righteous Slashdotter know-it-all can feel superior.

    I've met guys like this before, and a good portion of them are just being contrary because they know it bugs people.

    Another good portion of them are suffering from some kind of obvious emotional/mental disorder which makes them difficult to be around. So yes, let's all laugh at the distressed people and jump up and down for the trolls.

    The only real problem with these sorts of people is that they discredit any ideas which happen to have substance but which tend to get lumped in with and sullied by flat earth thinking.

    -FL