Breaking: Earth Is Flat. Now Impossible to Dig Hole to China
I don't know what this story means for the mnemonic, "My Very Educated Mother . . ." and the rest of the planets, but there's a vocal group of folks who think the Earth is flat — not to mention using the term "flat-earther" to describe someone who just doesn't get it, is quite frankly insulting.
If the earth isn't a globe, what then is it? One 25-year-old computer scientist originally from Canada, describes the earth as, "flat and horizontally infinite — it stretches horizontally forever." They've planned for all your (understandable) questions: one can't sail off of the edge because, "a cursory examination of a flat-earth map fairly well explains the reason — the North Pole is central, and Antarctica comprises the entire circumference of the earth. Circumnavigation is a case of traveling in a very broad circle across the surface of the earth."
OK, the concept of a flat earth might seem preposterous, but I kind of dig (not too far, one might end up in China) their reasoning. To see what it is, read more.
One of the adherents to the flat-earth lifestyle said, "I came to realize how much we take at face value. We humans seem to be pleased with just accepting what we are told, no matter how much it goes against our senses." And all those photos from space showing a big ball? "The space agencies of the world are involved in an international conspiracy to dupe the public for vast profit." While another agrees, "these photos are fake."
You'd think the flat-earth theory is really, old. Nope. People have known since at least the 4th century BC that the earth is round, and the "we live on a giant CD" didn't become popular until Victorian times. The author of the book, Flat Earth: The History of an Infamous Idea addresses the conflict between the two ideas saying, "it is always good to question 'how we know what we know,' but it is also good to have the ability to accept compelling evidence — such as the photographs of earth from space."
Should we be questioning more "facts" people take for granted?
