- So as we're filming this,
we are broadcasting to you
from a studio, about five floors up.
And the building in which we're located
is built on the surface of a planet.
Spoiler alert, that's Earth.
And if you are like the vast majority
of the people alive now,
and to be honest, the vast
majority of the people alive
for at least the past few centuries,
then you believe that the building is on,
ultimately, a sphere, a
three dimensional circle.
Welcome to the show.
This is an update video on
the theory of the flat earth,
the so-called "Flat Earth".
It's been popping up in social
media in the past few months,
and it's been popping up in
human history for a millenia
though perhaps not as
often as you might think,
or your old textbooks might have told you.
So what's this Flat Earth thing about?
Let's define it first off.
The idea is that for
one reason or another,
that Earth is not the
sphere we know it to be
and that all the evidence proves it to be,
but instead it is a disc.
And so the North Pole is at the center,
sort of like the hub of a wheel,
and then the rest of the thing
is encased in a wall of ice.
And we confuse that with the South Pole,
but it's actually this long wall.
There's an excellent article that came out
on one of our peer channels,
How Stuff Works Now,
by our friend, Christian Sager,
about the age old argument
of the Flat Earth.
And he has a great line
in there where he says,
"Think of the South Pole, actually,
as the wall in Game of Thrones.
So that's the basic definition,
and we've had a lot of
folks write in to us
on Twitter and Facebook where
we're "Conspiracy Stuff",
if you want to pause the
video and look us up now...
We've had so many questions.
And from your YouTube comments as well,
"Guys, what's this Flat
Earth thing, what gives?"
So we have four important things to know,
not just about the Flat Earth theory,
but about the continuing conversation
that's occurring today.
Number one, Matt and I did
a video on the Flat Earth
a long time ago, and you can check it out.
I will be honest, we had a lot of people
who just saw the headline and said,
"Oh, oh my God, rabble,
rabble, rabble, rabble.
"I can't believe that you
believe in the Flat Earth."
And if you're watching this show,
you know that we live
in a world where people
are very comfortable reading
the headline of something
and then replying to their
opinion about the headline.
But we did this video so long ago
that we wanted to come in with this update
and talk about some of the recent things
that have occurred regarding this.
So number two, the Flat Earth theory
became more prominent in national media
and global media when
entertainers like B.o.B
and Tila Tequila started
talking about it in Twitter.
Sometimes in all caps, which as you know,
lends a lot of credibility, I guess.
And B.o.B in particular, was
involved with a Twitter beef,
a healthy conversation,
a spirited discussion
with scientist, Neil deGrasse Tyson
over the shape of the earth
and how so many people
could believe it's a sphere.
Do so many people belive it's a sphere
because there is a vast conspiracy?
Or do so many people believe it's a sphere
because it's true?
This leads us to an interesting question,
which is how much of this propagation,
of this Flat Earth theory
on the part of entertainers
can be traced to a sincere
belief, or a marketing ploy?
'Cause let's not forget
that people are often
in a constant struggle to maintain a spot
in the national attention span,
to at least be a moat in the public eye.
So one of the best ways to accomplish
these kind of things
is to be controversial.
Speaking of belief, number three,
not all the so-called Flat Earthers
agree on the nature of this theory.
You'll actually find some
very interesting articles
where people accuse other
Flat Earth proponents
of being misinformation,
of hiding the truth,
still saying there's a flat earth,
but propagating it in
a way that ultimately
derides the concept or ultimately
obfuscates the meaning.
We see people who could
be called geocentrists,
which would be the modern
version of people who believe
that the earth is the
center of the universe,
and that in some cases, the heavens,
the sky, is a firmament, is a dome,
like we're on the inside of an egg almost
or some sort of spherical object.
And while we're here,
let's just do a quick recap
of some of the things
that people who believe
in Flat Earth point to as evidence.
You'll often hear of religious basis,
a quote from Genesis, perhaps.
Or you'll hear some creationism come in,
that not only is Earth flat,
but that it is 5,000, 6,000 years old.
It is very important to
point out at this juncture,
this time in history,
many more people pretend
to believe in this for some sort of point
about the nature of rhetoric
and how one can argue anything,
and if you argue it well, it
doesn't matter if you're right.
Many more people believe
in stuff like that
when they talk about Flat Earth
as opposed to actually believing
in some kind of disc-shaped earth.
We can also see some philosophical things
such as the so-called Zetetic method
which means that you,
and I, and Matt, and Noel
can only encounter the world
through our direct senses.
And based on a series of experiments
by a fellow named Dr. Rowbotham,
this Zetetic method has
been used to construct
what the Flat Earth
society uses as an argument
for the existence of Earth as a disc,
all of which leads us to number four,
how and more importantly why
would people participate
in some kind of cover up
if this were true?
Why would every relevant
scientist in history,
why would every relevant
government in history,
why would everyone who
has traveled a great deal
or circumnavigated the globe say,
"No, no, it's flat."
Are they all mistaken?
Is there a small group of
people that span generations
that are somehow able
to bilk everyone else?
Do you fly around the
world and partway through,
the flight attendant comes
out with this pamphlet
that says, "Actually, the earth is flat.
"You're sworn to secrecy
"if you want to leave this plane alive."
That would be an interesting flight.
I would take that flight.
We know that it can be quite difficult
to keep any sort of
secret for a long time.
Even the FBI is having
a tough time with JFK.
And some of those papers are gonna be,
well, as of now, they're going
to be released pretty soon.
But we'll see.
So if these powerful
agencies have this tough time
keeping a secret as small
as the assassination
of a single person, and I don't mean
that it was no big deal,
I mean in comparison
to the shape of the planet,
why would someone do this?
Why go to all this trouble?
What is the secret being hidden?
Let's face it.
If Earth is a disc rather than a sphere,
for most people, that doesn't matter.
It doesn't affect the price of food,
it doesn't affect whether or
not someone you have a crush on
likes you or dislikes you.
And just in a day to day thing,
it seems somewhat abstract
to a lot of people, as
they go through the hours
of their week.
So for that fact alone,
there's a big question.
And let's not let this
go without pointing out
that every satellite
that has been in space
has appeared to orbit around a sphere.
Every astronaut who has been to space
has reported seeing Earth as a sphere.
Every planet that we look at
in the rest of the solar
system and beyond is a sphere.
There are no examples
of disc-shaped planets
that we have found at this point.
Now of course, there are asteroids,
there are things that don't
have that spherical shape,
but the evidence for Earth being a sphere
at this point, vastly and
far outweighs evidence
of it being another sort of shape.
With all this in mind,
we must of course ask,
what if we're wrong?
What if the few people,
and there are a few people
who genuinely believe this,
what if they're right?
How? Why would this cover up exist?
They keep getting stuck on that question.
And for the record, personally,
Matt, and Noel, and Scully,
and I have no contact
with B.o.B or Tila Tequila,
and haven't spoken with them
over why they believe this or
what they believe about it.
But if you do check out their tweets,
I'd love to hear your opinion
of this whole Flat Earth thing.
Is it a genuine belief at this point?
'Cause it hasn't been for a long time.
Columbus knew the earth was
round, it's pretty obvious.
Or is it something else?
Is it a marketing ploy?
Is it like bread and circuses?
Is it to distract you from some
other more important issue,
which should always be the
first question on our minds
when we hear about kerfuffles like this.
While you're on the internet,
if you want to hear our podcast
and want more information
about the Flat Earth
theory, Flat Earth Society,
arguments for and against,
then check out our upcoming audio podcast
where Noel, Matt, and I
look at the creationism,
the geocentrism, the science, the rumors,
the history, the theories,
both ancient and current.
And one last thing, the thing
we always like to end on,
our best ideas come from you.
So let us know what you'd like
us to cover in the future.
You can drop me a line
there in the comments,
you can email us directly,
we are Conspiracy@HowStuffWorks.com.
