As a child, I attended a show where a magician
sawed a woman in half.
Not knowing how the mechanism worked, I leaped
to the conclusion that it had to be some kind
of spiritual, mystical force of magic.
It was a false conclusion that intuitively
seemed correct, but brought with it a host
of other problems, assumptions, and unanswered
questions.
If you lack scientific literacy, it’s easy
to postulate far-fetched alternative explanations
for how the universe works.
They may seem intuitive, but as with the magician,
they bring a host of other problems, contradictions,
assumptions, and unanswered questions.
Maybe you’ve seen a flat earth conspiracy
video or read a compelling anti-science blog
post, but before you dive head first into
that flat world of absurdism, with help of
several other pro-science, skeptically-minded
content creators, I’ve put together a list
of questions for you to think about.
When you’re done watching this, I highly
recommend that you go check out and subscribe
to their channels as well.
You won’t be disappointed.
Cosmic Skeptic: “My question is this to
those of you who expect to see some kind of
curvature on a globular earth with their eyes,
what exact kind of curvature are you expecting
to see?
If you’re talking about the kind of curvature
that goes away from us and over the horizon,
then that would be indiscernible.
It would look the same as a flat earth, because you can’t see things that are under the horizon.
If you’re talking about a kind of curvature
where if you were to follow the horizon from
left to right, that you would see some kind
of curvature downwards, just follow that to
its logical conclusion.
Do a 360-spin on the spot – where does that
horizon end up?
It wouldn’t match up to where you started.
That makes no sense whatsoever either.
Even if you were high enough up to see some
kind of curvature, all it would be is looking
down and seeing the entire earth beneath you,
and any globe from one particular point of
view (because of perspective) is indistinguishable
from a flat disc.
In other words, nobody has ever claimed that
the kind of curvature you’re expecting to
see is what you would expect to see on a globular
earth (or even that it’s possible).
Although I will say that it’s a damn sight
more possible than a flat earth.”
Suris: “If you honestly want to believe
that the earth is flat, I’m not going to stop you.
But I would like to ask: if you want to convince
any of us (especially those of us that are
at least moderately science-minded), can you
please provide a working model - a full-scale,
working model of the flat earth with accurate
predictions and measurements that follow through
on that scale.
And no, I don’t mean the UN map.”
Rachel Oates: “Why is it that all the other
astronomical bodies like other planets, their
orbiting moons, the sun, other stars...
Why is it that they’re all spherical, and
the laws of gravity apply to them, but the
earth is somehow the odd one out?
What makes it different?”
GM Skeptic: “If gravity comes from the earth constantly accelerating upwards (not just moving quickly,
but actually constantly accelerating), where is this infinite source of energy that’s propelling it?”
Professor Stick: “Why do time lapses of
stars rotate in different directions in the
northern and southern hemispheres fitting
perfectly with the perspective we would expect
for a rotating round earth?”
Godless Engineer: “If Nasa’s part of a
global conspiracy, the earth’s flat, and
the moon landings never happened, then how
come anybody with a high-powered laser can
bounce light off of retroreflectors that the
astronauts left on the moon?”
Godless Cranium: “If climate change melts
the Antarctic ice wall, will all the water
fall off the edge, or will we be swarmed with
white walkers?”
Eric Murphy (Talk Heathen): “Why, from the southern hemisphere,
do images of the moon appear upside down.
And you can verify the change if you drive north and south - traveling - taking pictures of the moon.
You can see that change as you move to the
other side of the earth.
How do flat-earthers explain that?”
Kyle Curtis (The NonSequitur Show): “Did
you know, there are over 500 people from 38
countries who have been to space.
And that there are 72 different government
space agencies, 31 private spaceflight companies,
and 24 private endeavors all of which are
building rovers, landers, and probes.
Now this represents tens if not hundreds of
thousands of employees (Nasa alone has 17,000).
And they’re all building equipment to meticulous
specifications based on universally applicable
scientific principles.
And this equipment has to travel at mind-numbing
speeds.
It has to be able to sustain radiation and
fluctuations in temperature.
On top of that, it has to remain airtight.
Are all of them in on it?
And if so, how many of them can keep a secret.
And if not, how are those at the top managing
to fool every single one of their employees?”
Objectively Dan (Epistemic): “If the sun
is rotating above the earth in a circle, then
how do you explain both solar and lunar eclipses?
And if the sun dips below the earth to cast
a shadow on the moon, then how come the entire
earth is never submerged in darkness at the
same time?
Instead it’s daytime in New York when it's
nighttime in New Delhi.”
Steve McRae: “You say that live footage
of astronauts is fake because you can’t
see stars.
But have you ever taken a picture or video
of the night sky only to realize that your
camera’s sensor just isn’t sensitive enough
to capture these dim balls of light without
increasing exposure time?
Did you ever notice that it’s daytime?
The freaking sun is out, of course you can’t
see other stars!”
Mr. Atheist: “Additionally, if it is impossible
for the earth to be round because we don’t
feel it moving at the incredible speed it’s
moving, what’s preventing us from feeling
the force of the constantly acceleration flat
earth as it moves upward?
And wouldn’t the sun and all of the other
luminaries be having to move at the same rate
so as to not either crash into the earth or
fly away forever, but why can’t we observe
that in any way?”
Bionic Dance: “Why do the stars and constellations
we see in the southern hemisphere
differ from those we see in the northern hemisphere?”
Shannon Q: “When someone defends the concept
of the flat earth, I’ve often heard the
argument being made that, ‘I trust my eyes.’
But we know that our eyes can deceive us.
If they couldn’t magicians and illusionists
wouldn’t have careers.
In fact, everything that we do perceive visually
comes into our eyes upside down, backwards,
and full of holes.
It’s our brains that do the hard work of
constructing that into what we would call vision.
Why would you rely on something as fallible
and subjective as visual perception and reject
more precise and reliable forms of measurement
to make your argument?”
Telltale: “The Soviet Union and the US were
enemies during the Cold War,
and we both had space programs.
If one side claims the earth was round, and
they were wrong,
why wouldn’t the other expose them?”
Frank Wolf: “If the sun and moon aren’t
dropping below a horizon
but just getting further away,
then why don’t they get all tiny just before night, and why aren’t they
absolutely gigantic when they’re right overhead?”
Paulogia: “Most astronauts were Christians, including the Apollo 8 astronauts who read
from the book of Genesis while orbiting the
moon,
and Buzz Aldrin who took communion before setting foot on the moon?
If the round earth is a Satanic conspiracy,
why aren’t these Christian astronauts exposing it?”
Lloyd Evans: “Better yet, if it’s a Satanic
conspiracy, why is it that the discoveries
about the true nature of our planet and its
place in the cosmos made by Nicholas Copernicus,
Galileo, Hubble, and Newton - were all by
devoutly religious Christians?”
Alex Legends (Emperor Atheist): “According to your model, is the moon a disc,
an ethereal light, a projection, or a hologram?
And in half of all flat earth models you have
Australia all scrunched
and wider than North America?
How come flat-earthers can’t seem to agree on one model?”
Seth Andrews (Host of The Thinking Atheist):
“One of the best arguments I had heard against
flat-earthers came from astrophysicist Dan
Batcheldor.
In order for the flat earth theory to be correct,
it would not only involve a conspiracy of
world governments, and the airline industry,
and every nation’s space program, and you
know the makers and operators of all the satellites
– not only them – but it would also require
a conspiracy within the flat earth movement
itself.
Because if you had one flat-earther located
in New York, and another one located in Los Angeles,
and you were to ask both of them
about the current altitude of the sun,
the flat-earther in Los Angeles would essentially have to lie to the flat-earther in New York
for the numbers to match up.
So even within the movement itself, the flat
earth movement, it simply makes no sense.”
Why do objects weigh .35% less at the equator
than at the poles?
This makes sense with centrifugal force on
a spinning, round globe,
but not in a flat earth model.
Now before I go, I want to give a very special
thank you to all of the other YouTubers who
submitted questions and participated in this
collaboration.
I’ve put all of their channel links in the
video description below.
They make some of the best content on this
beautiful round earth.
So what are you waiting for?
Go subscribe!
While I’ve spent the last several years
immersing myself in complex scientific topics,
many of you know that I was raised in a young
earth creationist family, and when it comes
to math and science-heavy topics, I still
feel like I’m playing catchup.
It’s healthy skepticism based in scientific
literacy that inoculates us against the dangerous
pseudoscientific claims of cult leaders or
alternative medicine quacks.
When someone starts spouting nonsense about
the healing effects of quantum energy
or vaguely invokes one of Einstein’s theories to push an ideology or sell a product, what better
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Thanks, and as always, Dare to be curious!
But don’t drink the Koolaid.
