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Flat-Earth-Theory

Earlier this calendar week, Elon Musk got into a fleck of a tiff with the Flat Earth Society. The brief exchange was likely partly inspired by 'Mad' Mike Hughes' plans to launch himself in a homemade steam-powered rocket using a launch ramp synthetic from the remnants of a mobile domicile. Musk asked, sensibly enough, why we don't have a Flat Mars Guild, given that we have a Flat Earth Society. The FES responded with the following:

FlatMars

According to the Flat Earth Guild, in fact, Earth is the just verified flanet (flat+planet). In fact, when challenged to explain why the Earth would be unique in this fashion, the organization trotted out the uniqueness of Globe to explicate itself.

Allow me be articulate: I'm bold the FES is trolling mostly considering I'm dubious that whatever grouping that then thoroughly rejects science, geometry, and basic math is willing to accept any evidence of how planets shape themselves. Wading into their "scientific" explanations for the shape of the World is similar being kicked in the caput by a mule and falling into a vat of stupid.

The evidence Apartment Earthers cite to justify their views are claims that were disproven thousands of years ago. The Greek mathematician, astronomer, and geographer Eratosthenes (276-194 BC) calculated the circumference of the Earth within a 10 to 15 percent margin of mistake with extremely simple tools and observations. Given the resources available at the time, this is no small accomplishment. Various claims about beingness unable to run into the curve of the Globe while flying in an airplane have also been explained, at length.

Apartment Earthers like to argue that their rejection of simple knowledge constitutes a willingness to embrace new and artistic modes of thinking. Assertive "scientists," they say, is equivalent to believing in a religious faith.

FETweets

Name redacted.

While this argument has a certain simplistic appeal, information technology'southward non hard to come across the enormous flaw running through it. One of the key requirements of science is that experiments are reproducible. Anyone who wishes to do and then can research the history of how the circumference of the Globe was calculated, conduct the same experiments that people used hundreds and thousands of years ago, and arrive at the same conclusions. Eratosthenes' relatively crude measurements and some weaknesses in his assumptions doesn't change that he was within x to 15 pct of the circumference of the World ane,700 years earlier Ferdinand Magellan would lead an expedition to circumnavigate the planet.

Artist's depiction

Flat Earthers try to weasel out of such replication requirements by emphasizing bear witness they claim comes from human observation, just this is a dodge. As intelligent as the ancient Greeks were, they weren't flight balloons upwardly to 80,000 feet or using calculators to derive their results. However somehow, the aforementioned simple human observations led them to conclude the Earth was round, not flat.

Isaac Asimov'due south essay on the relativity of wrongness indirectly addresses this trouble as well. The Earth isn't flat. Clinging to simplistic, easily rebutted arguments doesn't make you lot an independent thinker.

Note: The full version of the acme feature prototype tin be seen here.