Guy Proves Flat-Earthers Are Wrong In The Most Brilliant Way
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Recently, after taking pictures of Lake Michigan and noticing that the surface has no curve, someone did a little practical experiment to see if our planet earth was truly flat. It involved elaborate calculations and used other tools to find the correct answer, which we have all known for centuries now.
However, a 36-year-old software engineer called Jeff went for something much simpler. He used a basketball and a macro lens to simulate the curvature of the Earth and took photos to calculate the equivalent. Quite brilliant, isn’t it?
“Looking at my photos, it’s easy to imagine being an incredibly small creature living on the surface of the basketball,” Jeff told Bored Panda. “From the perspective of that tiny creature, the “horizon” of the basketball would always look “flat”. Using the appearance of the horizon as primary evidence, this creature would likely assume that they are living on a flat surface. I don’t expect this to change the minds of any entrenched flat earth believers, but I hope that this interesting experiment could help someone that may be susceptible to persuasion by the flat earthers’ arguments.”
“The few flat earth believers I have interacted with seem to rely heavily on memes as their preferred method of communication, so I wanted to be able to respond with a meme-like science experiment, using their own logic, that points out the absurdity of their logic.”
While people rejoiced that Jeff had found conclusive proof that planet Earth is indeed round, he had some reservations. “I would like to clarify, that my photo does not prove the Earth is round,” he told us. “It only proves in an easy-to-understand way that the surface of a sphere can appear flat. It proves that the basis of all flat-earthers’ beliefs (the horizon appears flat) is insufficient evidence to determine the shape of the earth.”
Cool science and logic always win in the end! Jeff makes quite an excellent point in the round vs. flat ‘debate’ that debunks one of the biggest arguments flat-Earthers have. So scroll down to read about the full experiment, as well as the specifics of what he used, and don’t forget to tell us what you think!
This person used a basketball to do a clever experiment
He later added this message to clarify the meaning of this experiment:
Here’s how people reacted:
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Honestly, the VAST majority of "Flat Earthers" are just trolls wanting to get a rise out of people by being contrary.
Exactly! Why would anyone even take this much time out of their lives to try educate these idiots who are just playing people.
Maybe. There are undoubtedly some people in the movement that are involved for such reasons, but the movement is mostly sincere people... many with fundamentalist religious beliefs, as well. At least that's according to a May 30th New Yorker online article that's very informative. I'd say most of them simply don't grasp basic scientific principles, math, and logic.
I also read that some of those that are actual believers of this subscribe to a belief that if they cannot see something themselves directly then it doesn't count as proof. For example. They can't get hope in a plan or space craft and go see it is round. But they can see it is flat then it must be flat.
There are also a percentage who are clearly mentally unwell and seek an identity in a group, are easily mislead and in order to maintain the delusion, consistently go on the defensive/attack against anyone who challenges them. I follow @nasa on Instagram and the threads are full of flat earthers. You are correct that many are highly religious or anti education. Reading some of the comments suggests a proportion are mentally ill. I have been commenting often that we just ignore them and stop feeding the discord. The majority will never change their beliefs, they just say "NASA lies" over and over.
Agreed. I've said it many times before: don't people remember Andy Kaufman? I thought it was a psycho, but everyone who knew him insisted he was just a very elaborate performance artist. It's the same with these flat earthers. And the people who want so much to disprove them... they THINK they're showing their intelligence but mostly what they're showing is their own humorless concrete thinking. It's a little embarrassing.
I was wondering about that...I was going to say something along the lines of "how come we are still having this conversation? Wasn't it figured out many many years ago that the earth was flat??? J/K but seriously they have got to be trolls and not actual reproducing people or I am giving up on mankind and letting the aliens take over"
This comment has been deleted.
Flat earthers, anti-vaxers, climate change deniers, Trump supporters... nothing will change these people's minds. Take Flat Earthers for axample - for every explanation that anyone comes up with, or any mind experiement, they have the most peculiar mental gymnastics to come up with explanations to counter it. See for example: https://theflatearthsociety.org/home/index.php/about-the-society/faq
I know you have a lot of hate in you, but it's incorrect to lump all those groups together. The anti-vaccination movement was in Europe before the USA. I myself first became aware of the movement taking hold in France. The flat earthers are mainly trolling, playing you for a fool. And many of the global warming deniers I've met remember the 70s when it was an ice age that was coming, but the thing we were supposed to do to avoid the ice age then is the same thing we're supposed to do to avoid the warming now. Though they mostly have a hard time articulating their objections, it seems to be a great deal more nuanced than what you no doubt think it is. But... well, that's how bigotry always worked. Oversimplify people, lump them together as much as possible, and hate away because hey you've picked a politically correct bigotry so you can indulge! ::rolleyes::
We get it. How many more flat earthers need to be "Hilariously" (Sarcasm) be proven wrong. This is just boring and repetitive.
until there are no more flat earthers. thats how many times they need be proven wrong. just as many times as anti vaxxers
That day will never come. There some people who simply refuse to accept scientifically proven facts. There is no point in continuing to argue with people like this. Those of us who can think clearly and logically have to stand up and make sure their crazy illogical voices remain the minority voice, and come November, we vote for those who are on the side of science and sanity.
We will be just wasting our breaths and that's the way they like it.
Why don't we send them into space? I know it's extremely expensive but we usually learn something with each mission.. A one way trip to Mars maybe? That way it proves to them that not only is Earth round but there are other round planets too! With the added bonus that they're not here annoying as round-earthers? No? Oh, okay.
If that is your goal, you are doing it wrong. Flat earthers don't believe what they believe because of logic or facts. They believe it because of a deep-seated belief that everyone is lying to them. Flat-earthism should be treated more as paranoia or mental illness than plain ignorance. This sort of evidence, while clever, doesn't address the problem for the same reason you can't cure paranoia by pointing and laughing at the sufferer. It only reinforces the paranoia.
good luck with that................just remember, your life is finite, is this the best use of it?
Honestly, the VAST majority of "Flat Earthers" are just trolls wanting to get a rise out of people by being contrary.
Exactly! Why would anyone even take this much time out of their lives to try educate these idiots who are just playing people.
Maybe. There are undoubtedly some people in the movement that are involved for such reasons, but the movement is mostly sincere people... many with fundamentalist religious beliefs, as well. At least that's according to a May 30th New Yorker online article that's very informative. I'd say most of them simply don't grasp basic scientific principles, math, and logic.
I also read that some of those that are actual believers of this subscribe to a belief that if they cannot see something themselves directly then it doesn't count as proof. For example. They can't get hope in a plan or space craft and go see it is round. But they can see it is flat then it must be flat.
There are also a percentage who are clearly mentally unwell and seek an identity in a group, are easily mislead and in order to maintain the delusion, consistently go on the defensive/attack against anyone who challenges them. I follow @nasa on Instagram and the threads are full of flat earthers. You are correct that many are highly religious or anti education. Reading some of the comments suggests a proportion are mentally ill. I have been commenting often that we just ignore them and stop feeding the discord. The majority will never change their beliefs, they just say "NASA lies" over and over.
Agreed. I've said it many times before: don't people remember Andy Kaufman? I thought it was a psycho, but everyone who knew him insisted he was just a very elaborate performance artist. It's the same with these flat earthers. And the people who want so much to disprove them... they THINK they're showing their intelligence but mostly what they're showing is their own humorless concrete thinking. It's a little embarrassing.
I was wondering about that...I was going to say something along the lines of "how come we are still having this conversation? Wasn't it figured out many many years ago that the earth was flat??? J/K but seriously they have got to be trolls and not actual reproducing people or I am giving up on mankind and letting the aliens take over"
This comment has been deleted.
Flat earthers, anti-vaxers, climate change deniers, Trump supporters... nothing will change these people's minds. Take Flat Earthers for axample - for every explanation that anyone comes up with, or any mind experiement, they have the most peculiar mental gymnastics to come up with explanations to counter it. See for example: https://theflatearthsociety.org/home/index.php/about-the-society/faq
I know you have a lot of hate in you, but it's incorrect to lump all those groups together. The anti-vaccination movement was in Europe before the USA. I myself first became aware of the movement taking hold in France. The flat earthers are mainly trolling, playing you for a fool. And many of the global warming deniers I've met remember the 70s when it was an ice age that was coming, but the thing we were supposed to do to avoid the ice age then is the same thing we're supposed to do to avoid the warming now. Though they mostly have a hard time articulating their objections, it seems to be a great deal more nuanced than what you no doubt think it is. But... well, that's how bigotry always worked. Oversimplify people, lump them together as much as possible, and hate away because hey you've picked a politically correct bigotry so you can indulge! ::rolleyes::
We get it. How many more flat earthers need to be "Hilariously" (Sarcasm) be proven wrong. This is just boring and repetitive.
until there are no more flat earthers. thats how many times they need be proven wrong. just as many times as anti vaxxers
That day will never come. There some people who simply refuse to accept scientifically proven facts. There is no point in continuing to argue with people like this. Those of us who can think clearly and logically have to stand up and make sure their crazy illogical voices remain the minority voice, and come November, we vote for those who are on the side of science and sanity.
We will be just wasting our breaths and that's the way they like it.
Why don't we send them into space? I know it's extremely expensive but we usually learn something with each mission.. A one way trip to Mars maybe? That way it proves to them that not only is Earth round but there are other round planets too! With the added bonus that they're not here annoying as round-earthers? No? Oh, okay.
If that is your goal, you are doing it wrong. Flat earthers don't believe what they believe because of logic or facts. They believe it because of a deep-seated belief that everyone is lying to them. Flat-earthism should be treated more as paranoia or mental illness than plain ignorance. This sort of evidence, while clever, doesn't address the problem for the same reason you can't cure paranoia by pointing and laughing at the sufferer. It only reinforces the paranoia.
good luck with that................just remember, your life is finite, is this the best use of it?