Flat Earth: Difference between revisions
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Belief in a '''flat Earth''' was quite common in the early days of humanity, but quickly began to be discredited the moment it was considered. Pythagoras suggested that the Earth was round, and [[Aristotle]] provided convincing evidence for it in Ancient Greece. By the Middle Ages, even the [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic Church]]'s most beloved of scientific theologians, Thomas Aquinas, was advancing the Earth's roundness as a fundamental of [[logic]]. | Belief in a '''flat Earth''' was quite common in the early days of humanity, but quickly began to be discredited the moment it was considered. Pythagoras suggested that the Earth was round, and [[Aristotle]] provided convincing evidence for it in Ancient Greece. By the Middle Ages, even the [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic Church]]'s most beloved of scientific theologians, Thomas Aquinas, was advancing the Earth's roundness as a fundamental of [[logic]]. | ||
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Given this history, it should come as a surprise to anyone, then, that any human being existing in the developed world right now should still consider the idea of a flat Earth probable. Since the mid-1800s, though, modern [[Pseudoscience|pseudoscientists]] have been trying to prove that the Earth is flat. As evidence (such as the fact that we can now orbit the planet and view it from a distance or travel around it in aircraft and ''see'' that it curves) continues to mount against the Flat Earth, the idea is beginning to [http://theflatearthsociety.org/forum/index.php?topic=11211.0 take a turn for the silly]. | Given this history, it should come as a surprise to anyone, then, that any human being existing in the developed world right now should still consider the idea of a flat Earth probable. Since the mid-1800s, though, modern [[Pseudoscience|pseudoscientists]] have been trying to prove that the Earth is flat. As evidence (such as the fact that we can now orbit the planet and view it from a distance or travel around it in aircraft and ''see'' that it curves) continues to mount against the Flat Earth, the idea is beginning to [http://theflatearthsociety.org/forum/index.php?topic=11211.0 take a turn for the silly]. | ||
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The Flat Earth Society (also known as the International Flat Earth Society or International Flat Earth Research Society) was founded by Englishman Samuel Shenton in 1956. It proposes a worldwide [[conspiracy]] (for no defined reason) including everyone in every government, pilots and/or GPS manufacturers, everyone in every communications industry, and probably everyone in the southern hemisphere (the difference between the currently-accepted globe and Flat Earth map are so massive below the equator that they would be difficult to ignore). Also included are thousands of supersoldiers keeping ordinary citizens from witnessing the Ice Wall, or using an odometer on a trip between any four landmarks. | |||
However, the internet is undecided if the Flat Earth Society is [[Poe's Law | extreme parody]] or serious. Motives for advocating a flat over a round earth earth despite evidence to the contrary are unknown. Even [[YEC|young-earth creationists]] who think it's 6000 years old don't go so far as to say that it's not round. | |||
==The conspiracy theorist bluff, everyone on the planet calls it...== | ==The conspiracy theorist bluff, everyone on the planet calls it...== | ||
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*[http://www.theflatearthsociety.org/forum/ Flat Earth Society Forums] | *[http://www.theflatearthsociety.org/forum/ Flat Earth Society Forums] | ||
*[http://www.theflatearthsociety.net/ The International Alliance of Flat Earth Groups] | |||
[[Category:Religion]] | [[Category:Religion]] | ||
Revision as of 09:30, 22 March 2009
Belief in a flat Earth was quite common in the early days of humanity, but quickly began to be discredited the moment it was considered. Pythagoras suggested that the Earth was round, and Aristotle provided convincing evidence for it in Ancient Greece. By the Middle Ages, even the Catholic Church's most beloved of scientific theologians, Thomas Aquinas, was advancing the Earth's roundness as a fundamental of logic.
Modern "Flat-Earthers"
Given this history, it should come as a surprise to anyone, then, that any human being existing in the developed world right now should still consider the idea of a flat Earth probable. Since the mid-1800s, though, modern pseudoscientists have been trying to prove that the Earth is flat. As evidence (such as the fact that we can now orbit the planet and view it from a distance or travel around it in aircraft and see that it curves) continues to mount against the Flat Earth, the idea is beginning to take a turn for the silly.
Q: "Why do you guys believe the Earth is flat?"
A: Well, it looks that way up close...
The Flat Earth Society (also known as the International Flat Earth Society or International Flat Earth Research Society) was founded by Englishman Samuel Shenton in 1956. It proposes a worldwide conspiracy (for no defined reason) including everyone in every government, pilots and/or GPS manufacturers, everyone in every communications industry, and probably everyone in the southern hemisphere (the difference between the currently-accepted globe and Flat Earth map are so massive below the equator that they would be difficult to ignore). Also included are thousands of supersoldiers keeping ordinary citizens from witnessing the Ice Wall, or using an odometer on a trip between any four landmarks.
However, the internet is undecided if the Flat Earth Society is extreme parody or serious. Motives for advocating a flat over a round earth earth despite evidence to the contrary are unknown. Even young-earth creationists who think it's 6000 years old don't go so far as to say that it's not round.
The conspiracy theorist bluff, everyone on the planet calls it...
The flat earth theory can be falsified on any clear night an hour or two after sunset by observing satellites in the sky. Unless governments around the world are launching one-shot satellites every night to maintain the conspiracy, a flat earth simply won't support a constellation of orbiting objects. They'll fall right over the edge, giving you nothing but blurry images of a stack of turtles.[1]