Flat earth- what’s your opinion??

[GaaaaarlicBread]

Just catching up on This Mornings interview with a flat earther-can’t get my head around his debate but at the same time he makes some points that sound very realistic and he seems knowledgable . But I do believe our earth is round and not flat but very open to other people’s views , so just wondered what you think Mumsnetters?? Sorry if there’s been a thread like this before....
YANBU=our earth is round
YABU= it is flat

The earth is not flat, but evolution is not a fact and vaccines do cause damage.

And how they forget what the world was like before Dr Jenner came along!

The earth is really on the back of turtle floating through space.

Yes, and I'm really a thrust-propelled dragon.

Earth only exists as a figment of our imaginations.

The logo of the Flat Earth Society contains the line "With members all around the globe No it doesn't. That's a myth, oft repeated but not true. The logo has no wording...

The website is a hoot though, Our core team are from locations around the plane. includes a president who travels widely spreading the flat out truth.

Wel worth a read through their 'learned articles' if you want a luagh. They try so very hard that yes, they do occasionally sounds convincing.

I have a friend who is a flatist.. endless source of amusement. When I say friend, I mean someone I have known for decades who always was a bit odd

you couldn't possibly have seen the curve of the horizon in Australia because there is no Australia. We are all actors based in an undisclosed location.

Australia is, in fact, the west island of New Zealand. We like to let them have their little delusions of being a country.

The blue marble photograph is photoshopped because "it has to be"

That modern medicine has removed peak physical health as the fitness test for our human evolution hence stupidity is the new fitness test and nature's way of regaining balance.

@MoonlightMistletoe

"The blue marble photograph is photoshopped because "it has to be""

The Blue Marble photograph was taken from Apollo 17 in 1972.

Photoshop was developed in 1987 and was released commercially in 1990.

FFS Mordred

The bloody time machine was invented in 1895 - do keep up!!

[just in case!]

Out of the 2 (flat or globe) I'd say the earth is a globe as there's far more proof of that. Until I see the proof with my own eyes I won't completely discount it.

I am fascinated with the idea we could be living in a simulation. Some physicists think that if technology continues at the rate it is now, in the future we'll be able to create simulations, each person in it an artificial intelligence. A child may create an ancestor simulation for a history project.

There are some interesting talks by physist Neil Degrassi on Youtube available. He (and others) theorise that we are far more likely to be living in a simulation than what we perceive reality to be.

By applying science and logic, flat earthers are shown as cranks. And as a society, we rightly dismiss them as cranks but let them get on with it as long as they aren't hurting anyone.

If only we treated religious organisations and followers with the same distain. Flat earth makes no less sense than 6 day earth creation, woman from a mans rib, talking snakes, winged horses, seas parting etc.

Just watched it - dear god, I can't believe people fall for such bullshit. It seems if you say things with enough assertion, people will believe it. (I suppose Trump and Boris are evidence of that).

A couple of blatant examples where he was talking crap- for example of course compasses don't work in the artic - that's where the magnetic north is, and compasses don't work next to magnets...
And why people don't go to the Arctic? Actually, they do - plenty of climbers/mountaineers go into the remotest regions. But there are massive issues of ownership of Arctic regions (it's is actually a complex and fascinating topic - well worth a look if you've got a moment.)

But most of his ideas were totally stupid - that American Government has created this conspiracy and that everyone at NASA is in on the hoax, and that all pictures are computer generated? Ridiculous. He couldn't even answer how it would benefit the government. And if we live in some sort of manufactured plasic bubble - then what's outside that bubble? It's stupid.

He never even mentions the stars - anyone can get proof that we live on a circular earth just by looking at the stars. Have a look at them now and again - you'll notice the Plough rotates slowly around the N.pole star. And Orion, closer to the horizon rotates even faster - as if we're spinning on an axis...

Even Aristotle in the 4th Century commented on the stars in relation to the shape of the earth. - what on earth would Aristotle gain from an 'American hoax' in the 20th Century?

Never mind basic, basic geographical features that prove the earth is round - like air currents and heat currents. Anyone who has done even a geography A level could disprove his ridiculous assumptions.

Of course the earth is flat.
And we are living in the Matrix controlled by the Illuminati.
And highly advanced Aliens fly across the cosmos, sharpening their rectal probes, just so they can abduct a hillbilly who is high on moonshine.
And the Knight's Templar are also involved somehow. As is Prince Philip.
David Icke and Stonehenge are also somehow in the mix.
And Lord Lucan was spotted riding Shergar in a race with Elvis Presley who was riding the Loch Ness Monster.

What do they say: The problem with keeping an open mind is that eventually your brain falls out.

I'm talking about Robert Simmon , he claimed that he had to photoshop it to make it more earth like.

Flat earthers are a product of natural selection failures.

Of course the earth is flat.
We are all being conditioned to believe the earth is round, by the drugs being sprayed over us in chemtrails.

I love Flat Earth. I think it's the best wind-up ever.

@MoonlightMistletoe

The original was taken in December 1972, a few hours after translunar injection as 17 coasted towards the moon. It was published in major newspapers and magazines worldwide soon after: no chance whatsoever of any photoshopping, as there was no Photoshop to Photoshop with. I remember it well as I was 10 years old and cut it out of a magazine so I could add it to the scrapbook of Apollo missions that I'd been collecting since I was 7.

The did manipulate it: the orientation of Apollo 17 at the time meant that south was pointing upwards, so they turned it round on printing for the more familiar north-to-the top orientation.

Flat earthers are a product of natural selection failures

Hmmm Interesting thought, would that mean anti-vaxxers are actively contributing to the removal of their kids from the gene pool? If stupidity is hereditary - and I'm starting to think it is (based on no evidence other than my personal experience) - then anti-vaxxers are doing the human race a favour.

Do they do group Darwin Awards?

The did manipulate it: the orientation of Apollo 17 at the time meant that south was pointing upwards, so they turned it round on printing for the more familiar north-to-the top orientation.

If they were in free fall why would it matter which way was 'up' on the photo?

Hmmm Interesting thought, would that mean anti-vaxxers are actively contributing to the removal of their kids from the gene pool? If stupidity is hereditary - and I'm starting to think it is (based on no evidence other than my personal experience) - then anti-vaxxers are doing the human race a favour.

In some ways yes, but it's a shame that innocent kids have to suffer for their parents stupidity.

I am fascinated with the idea we could be living in a simulation. Some physicists think that if technology continues at the rate it is now, in the future we'll be able to create simulations, each person in it an artificial intelligence. A child may create an ancestor simulation for a history project.

If we were living in a simulation, could we ever know ? (I have a theory that a lot of "unexplained" bits of science are where the simulation runs out, and more detail needs to be programmed in ...).

I saw Prof. Brian Cox a couple of years ago, giving a talk, and that was one of the questions from the audience. He took it completely seriously and admitted we could be and never know.

I think that conspiracy theories function in a similar way to religion. Just as a person of faith takes comfort in their belief that there is a creator, so it is perversely comforting to some that there is a shadowy network of people who are somehow in control and have a plan for us all, however nefarious their motives might be. The alternative, that everything is just as random and chaotic as it seems, is somehow too awful to contemplate.

"If they were in free fall why would it matter which way was 'up' on the photo?"

It didn't - but people are used to seeing the earth with north to the top, so they flipped it. The photo was taken very quickly as it was unscheduled, so the astronaut didn't bother with which way up he was on taking it.

There was a thread about this on The Other Site, and some people do believe it. Including one poster who kept linking to weird racist youtube videos.