Why Do Some People Believe the Earth is Flat? – Unmasking the Flat Earth Conspiracy
Hello, friends! On September 28th, 2002, 46-year-old Mike Hughes, who lives in America, broke a weird world record. He was a limousine driver by profession, and in his limousine, he attempted a long jump. Specifically, a 130-foot-long jump, jumping over a distance this long in a 3,000 kg vehicle, secures the world record for the longest limousine ramp jump.
Mad Mike and the Flat Earth Theory
But Mike doesn’t stop here. 12 years later, in 2014, he used a rocket made in his garage to go up to 13,000 feet in the air. When the rocket crashed, he was injured, but he wasn’t satisfied yet. In 2016, he revealed his plan to cross the boundaries of the atmosphere and go to outer space, and eventually, launch rockets from a height of 32 km using balloons.
In America, he came to be known as Mad Mike, because only a mad person would attempt such deadly, daredevil stunts. To carry out his new stunt, Mad Mike needed money. So he started a kickstarter campaign, asking people to donate for more than $100,000 so that he can carry out this stunt.
But unfortunately, people weren’t interested in his plan. He could collect only $310, only two people donate money to him.
But after some time, Mike said something because of which he suddenly received thousands of dollars in donations. He said that he doesn’t believe in science, he believes only what he sees with his eyes. He claimed that his real purpose behind this stunt was to go to space, and check if our Earth is spherical or not.
This impressed the people of the Flat Earth community. Mike said that he believes in the Flat Earth Theory.
This would have made you question if there are so many stupid people in the world who really think that our Earth is not a sphere? The answer is, unfortunately, yes.
The Prevalence of the Flat Earth Belief
Look at this survey from 2021. About 10% of the American population really believe that the Earth is flat, not round. If you look at the breakdown of different ages, the new generation, Gen Z and Millennials, they believe in this proportionally more.
But this conspiracy isn’t limited to America only. In the UK, about 3% of people believe that the Earth is flat. In Brazil, around 7% people, 8% in Bulgaria, and in Tunisia, a PhD student studying geology tried to submit a thesis about how the Earth is flat. Even educated people believe such stupid things. In fact, most of the people who believe this, are not uneducated illiterates. They know how to read and write, they are educated. They watch videos on YouTube, and argue about their beliefs. But still, for some reason or the other, they have accepted this simple fact to be a lie.
In this video, let’s understand this Flat Earth Theory in depth. According to them, what does our Earth look like? Let’s see some famous questions related to this theory: Does the Bible or Quran say something about this? And why do people believe in such a stupid theory?
The History of Understanding a Round Earth
In today’s world, with the widespread internet and numerous aeroplanes and spaceships, there are countless ways to prove that our Earth is actually round and spherical. But do you know what is interesting? People who lived thousands of years ago had an idea about this without these modern conveniences.
Around 500 BC, ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras looked at the Moon and the Sun and noticed that they were spherical. And based on his intuition, he guessed that if they are spherical, then our Earth would also be spherical.
Then came Aristotle, around 350 BC. He noticed that during a lunar eclipse, Earth’s shadow falls on the Moon, in a round shape. At the same time, he also observed that when he sees ships sailing in the sea, specifically, the ships on the distant horizon, when they come towards us, we see its upper part first. Then the middle, and at last, its bottom part. This tells us that the Earth is curved and round.
Then, in 200 BC, came Eratosthenes. He buried some wood in the ground and observed their shadows in the afternoon. He kept one of the pieces at the same place and moved the other one a kilometre away. There were some differences in the shadows of both the logs. And based on this, he did some calculations, and estimated that the circumference of the Earth would be somewhere between 37,500 km and 50,000 km. Later, we came to know that the actual circumference is 40,075 km.
Then, by the 1600s, when Isaac Newton came, this was taken for granted that the Earth is in the shape of a ball, and no one doubted this.
The Birth of the Flat Earth Movement: Samuel Rowbotham’s “Zetetic” Approach
And then in 1865, came a great man, Samuel Rowbotham. He wrote this great book: Zetetic Astronomy: Earth Not A Globe. This book is considered a classic by the Flat Earth community today.
Let’s look at some of the main arguments by Samuel in this book. This man said that whenever he went to the sea and looked far, the horizon always looks flat. If Earth were really round, it would not be flat but curved. Apart from this, all the lakes and oceans, the water level at the surface is flat, not curved. And even on the ground, he said that the ground doesn’t look curved. And no matter how far things are, we can see them regardless. In his opinion, because we don’t stop seeing them, the Earth is flat and not round. He called his approach Zetetic: only the things that one can see should be believed. And the other scientists and philosophers would be frustrated by his logic.
He came up with a new theory that the Earth looks like this: with the North Pole in the middle, the Earth lies flat, and at the end of it, there are tall ice mountains of Antarctica. If you cross those mountains, you will fall off of the Earth.
Some people who believe in the Flat Earth Theory believe another version, claiming that these ice mountains of Antarctica will never end. They keep going on endlessly infinitely.
The Flat Earth Model of the Sun and Moon
And what happens to the Sun and the Moon in this Flat Earth Theory? How do night and day come about? They have proposed an interesting model regarding this.
According to them, the Sun and the Moon keep moving in a circular path above the Earth, and their light falls like a spotlight over an area. According to the recent model proposed by the Flat Earth Community in America, the Sun and Moon have a diameter of only 50 km each, and they circle the Earth at a height of 5,500 km. But in reality, as we know, the Sun is about 150 million km away from the Earth, and the Moon is about 400,000 km away from the Earth.
In this Flat Earth Theory, the paths of the Sun and Moon are shown like this to justify the summer and winter seasons. Mark Sargent, who is nearly the king of this Flat Earth community of today, according to him, Sunlight is hot and Moonlight is cold. His proof of this is also quite interesting. He says that in daytime, if you compare the temperatures inside and outside the house, when you stand in the Sun, it’s hot. But if you do this at night, comparing the temperatures inside the house and outside the house, with the Moon in the sky, the temperature outside is cooler.
Wow, what logic! Anyone can come up with stupid ideas like this, it isn’t a big deal. But the problem arises when you blindly believe your stupid ideas to be the truth, without a second thought, without verifying it. This shouldn’t be a problem in the modern world, because there are AI tools like ChatGPT to answer all your questions. Ask it to explain with proof whether Moonlight is cold, and it will answer instantly based on the latest scientific evidence.
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Misinterpreting Religious Texts for Flat Earth Theory
Coming back to Samuel, he was not the only one of his time. In the late 1800s, this modern Flat Earth Movement was born. There is another famous book from 1885: 100 Proofs That The Earth Is Not A Globe, written by William Carpenter.
Right from the beginning, these people cited religion to show their nonsense as the truth. They started deliberately misinterpreting the Bible quotes. In the Bible, Revelation Chapter 7 Verse 1 says, “After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the Earth, holding back the four winds of the Earth…”
Now, these four corners can be interpreted metaphorically. It’s the same as us talking about all corners of the world. We aren’t actually talking about the Earth’s corners, claiming that Earth has corners. This is just a figure of speech. But what did these people do? They interpreted this literally, claiming that because the Bible mentions the four corners of Earth, it must mean that the Earth is a square or a rectangle.
Look at this map from 1893. In this, the Earth is shown as a square with an angel in each corner.
Similarly, Genesis 1 verse 6 mentions, “And God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of waters. And let it divide the waters from the waters.” Flat Earthers claim that the “waters above” means the sky and the “waters below” are the oceans. And there is a dome that divides these two. And so, in their model, the Flat Earth is shaped like a dome.
In 2016, a book was published on this: Firmament: Vaulted Dome Of The Earth. Today, about 70% of people who believe in the Flat Earth Theory believe in this Dome Theory too. They believe that this dome-like firmament covers the Earth. They believe that this is what the Earth looks like.
This was done with the Quran as well. Quranic verses were intentionally misinterpreted to “prove” their Flat Earth Theory.
Chapter 71 verse 19 says “(Allah) who has made for you the Earth like a carpet spread out;” Those trying to misinterpret it say that “spread out as a carpet” means completely flat. But the wise people say that spread out means spread out all around, that the Earth was made vast, expansive, and accessible.
This is why ever since the 9th and 10th century AD, most Muslim and Christian scholars have believed in a spherical Earth. However, every once in a while, there are some Flat Earthers. In this article from 2015, a Muslim cleric from Saudi Arabia says that the Earth is stationary. This person also says that NASA has never done a Moon landing.
Friends, this is a common pattern seen among most of the Flat Earthers. People who believe in this conspiracy theory also believe in other conspiracy theories. The same survey that I mentioned earlier, the same percentage of people believe that vaccines have microchips in them. The same percentage of people believe that NASA and all other space agencies are all frauds. Some people go as far as to say that there is no such thing as gravity and dinosaurs never existed.
The United Nations Logo Conspiracy
According to these people, if you look at the United Nations logo, it shows a Flat Earth, because of this map on the logo. Who will tell these people that any logo drawn on paper will always be in two dimensions? It is not possible to draw a spherical shape in two dimensions. But if you use such arguments with these people, you will get such weird answers. They will point out how Antarctica was not drawn on this map. And why was it not? Because it’s a conspiracy. This proves the Flat Earth Theory to them.
Why Do People Believe in the Flat Earth Conspiracy?
Now, let’s talk about their mindset. Why do some people believe such nonsensical theories to be true? There are four reasons behind this.
1. Convenience
The explanation that sounds simple and convenient, people tend to believe it to be true, because it is simply easy to understand. For example, you hear about global warming. On the one hand, let me give you a detailed explanation, let me show you a lot of data, charts, about how CO2 levels are rising over the years, and because of this global temperature is also rising. But on the other hand, a person tells you to ignore all the data, and just see how cold it is today. It might be the coldest day of the past 5 years, telling you that it proves global warming to be a lie.
Tell me, which explanation out of the two will you believe more? Hopefully, most of you will say that the first explanation is more believable because it was backed by data, and it was presented on a scientific basis. But unfortunately, friends, there are many people who simply choose the easy way, they choose the convenient explanation.
And this explanation is convenient not only because of its simplicity, it is also convenient because people do not have to take any action on their own. There won’t be anything to be scared of. If you accept that there is no such thing as global warming, then you don’t need to change yourself. The fear that you might have about global warming will also be eliminated. That is another reason why it is the convenient way.
2. Intuition
The things that you feel is right at the first glance, because of your intuition, your gut feeling says that its true, you tend to believe it more. For example, in the case of Flat Earth, people think that there is no need to think about gravity, math, or science. Rather, they choose to believe only the things they can actually see. When they look around, the ground around them looks flat. They see flat ground as far as they can see, and they take it to mean that the Earth is also flat.
However, in reality, the Earth is so big that it is not easy to notice its curvature with human eyes, for those living on Earth. That’s why these flat-Earthers think that because we can see buildings far away, it must mean that the Earth is flat. They claim that on a curved Earth, we shouldn’t be able to see things at a distance. People start trusting their gut feeling and observations more than science.
There is a psychological effect at play here, known as the Dunning-Kruger effect. According to this, if people have very little to no knowledge in a field, then they tend overestimate their knowledge and competency. They start believing that they know a lot about it, while, in reality, they have little to no knowledge.
As the knowledge level increases, people realize that they barely know anything about it. Gradually, people start underestimating their competence. And when they are truly knowledgeable in that field, then they realize that they have enough knowledge about the field. This phenomenon is depicted in this graph.
People who spread conspiracy theories like Flat Earth often say that you should do your own research. You should come to your own conclusions. Now, this isn’t inherently wrong. Everyone should do their own research, but when this is taken to an extreme level, if you tell a less intelligent person to do his own research, who might not know how to do research, then he starts relying on his intuition. Whatever he thinks is right, he starts believing it to be true.
We should always remember one thing, that understanding complex problems and complex issues is not always a convenient and intuitive process.
Refraction and the River Experiment
Before Samuel wrote his book in 1865 to prove the existence of a Flat Earth, he conducted an experiment in 1838. There is a river Old Bedford in the UK, a small river. He went into that river and placed a 3-foot-tall flag in a boat. A special thing about this river is that it flows straight for a long stretch. So, on one end, he sat with a telescope 8 inches above the water level. He said that if the Earth is really round, he should stop seeing the flag after some distance. He kept tracking the flag and boat for 6 miles, and he could still see the flag. And this is his simple drawing, based on which he came to the conclusion that since he could still see the flag, it means that the Earth is flat.
At first glance, this explanation might sound correct. But Samuel was relying on convenience and intuition. He did not account for the complex process called Refraction. In reality, he could continue seeing the flag because the light was refracting. You have learned in school that when light passes through different densities, from hot air to cool air, it bends. While he wasn’t actually seeing his flag, he was looking at the mirage of the flag. This is the opposite of what happens in the desert. Because of refraction of light, we think there is a water body nearby, while in reality, we see the sky. This is famously known as a mirage.
Alfred Wallace and the Refraction Challenge
Five years after the publication of Samuel’s book, there was another flat Earther named John Hamden. He declared a challenge in 1870 that whoever proves Samuel’s experiment to be wrong will be awarded £500. A famous biologist of that time, Alfred Wallace, took up this challenge and designed his own experiment to prove it wrong. He went to the same river and put a black band on a bridge over this river, at the height of 13 feet. Then he went 6 miles away from the bridge and looked at it through a telescope. But this time, to eliminate the refraction, he built a pole in the middle, at the 3 mile midpoint, a pole was erected with a disc at a height of 13 feet and a disc at a height of 9 feet.
On a Flat Earth, the black band on the bridge would not be visible through the telescope as it would be blocked by the upper disc on the pole in the middle, it will be in line of sight of the telescope. But when he actually looked through the telescope, he saw something like this. He could see the black band, and both the discs were visible above it. This could have been possible only if there is a curvature in the Earth. Because of which, the diagram would look like this. Both the discs on the pole in the middle were visible above the black band.
Although he won the bet, the guy never paid the promised amount, as he claimed that there was no written agreement. He used this excuse to run away.
The Importance of Critical Thinking
Here comes our third reason, friends: Critical thinking. Most people who believe in such conspiracy theories either do not use their critical thinking skills or they do not have the necessary critical thinking abilities.
What does critical thinking actually mean? To always look at your beliefs and ideas with a critical view. If you are doing your own research and reaching a conclusion, then ask yourself once, are there any other possibilities? Have you missed out on something? Look at things from multiple perspectives. What are the other possibilities in that case? Question your beliefs. Ask yourself why you believe in whatever you believe. Is your opinion about something based on your inherent bias? It is important to keep questioning yourself.
Had Samuel done this, he would have been able to find the flaws in his experiment. If he were truly adamant about his experiment, he would have tried to repeat his experiment using different perspectives and methods to solidify his conclusion. But the problem is that it isn’t convenient to do this. It’s very complicated and complex. Questioning yourself, looking at different perspectives, it is easier to believe your first intuition, without thinking critically. People who fall victim to such conspiracy theories do the same.
Mistrust of Authorities and Institutions
The fourth reason is Mistrust of Authorities and Institutions. And this is quite interesting, because on the one hand, such people have blind faith in conspiracy theories, but on the other hand, they also have blind skepticism about the people on the other side.
If you tell Flat Earthers that NASA has clicked this photo of the Earth, they will not trust it because they do not trust NASA. If you show them science books, they will say that these books are published by the government, and governments cannot be trusted. Regardless of the basis of your evidence, they will deny your evidence. According to them, the education system of the entire world is conspiring against them. According to them, America, Russia, China, India, all countries are involved in this conspiracy.
But, if they use a little critical thinking here, they’ll realize how terrible their logic is. Countries like America and Russia, who oppose each other in almost every issue, why would they suddenly work together to make the Earth seem round? This was the first photo taken of our Earth. On October 24th, 1946, America had launched a sub-orbital rocket which went up to a height of 104 km, and took photos like this. About 20 years later, on May 30th, 1966, this photo was taken. This photo was taken by a Soviet communication satellite. Amazingly, both the US and the Soviet Union, who were staunch enemies during the Cold War, came together just for this conspiracy.
You may think that this is nonsense, but ask these Flat Earthers, they believe this. According to them, the rockets launched by these space agencies were actually nuclear weapons that were trying to break the Earth’s dome.
The Truth About Mad Mike and His Flat Earth Deception
Losing faith in the government isn’t unheard of. But to believe that everything that the government is saying, everything that the scientists say, to think that all of it is nonsense, that is sheer madness.
This reminds me, let’s go back to Mad Mike’s story. I was talking about it at the beginning of the video. By using Flat Earth in his campaign, he collected around $8500 for his stunt. In 2018, he reached around 1,900 feet, and this time he calmly parachutes down. He was gradually moving towards his goal.
But his next flight, on February 22nd, 2020, proved to be his last flight. As soon as he launched himself in his homemade rocket, his parachute tears apart. When the rocket reached its peak and started coming down, Mike was trapped inside, and thus, he d!ed a horrible death.
After his death, the entire truth was revealed. He never believed in the Flat Earth Theory. He was just a stuntman who did crazy things to push his boundaries. He pretended to be a Flat Earther so that he could fool the Flat Earth community and rake in donations from them.
So think for yourself, friends. To get donations from them, this stuntman could easily fool these people. Will one really need something as complicated and sophisticated as science to mislead them?
If you believe in any such conspiracy theories, then wake up and start paying attention to these four reasons. Otherwise, you won’t know when someone will come and fool you like this.
The link to download the course is in the description below. And if you liked this video, then you will like this one too, in which I have talked about Neil Armstrong’s first Moon landing. Another incident, about which there are many conspiracy theories. What are those theories, and what is the truth? Find out by clicking here.
Thank you very much!
