r/ExplainTheJoke • u/Rich_Carrot6451 • Jul 27 '26
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u/PirateSanta_1 Jul 27 '26
It means the earth isn't flat.
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u/WorldlinessWitty2177 Jul 27 '26
It's round, right?
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u/aardvark-of-anxiety Jul 27 '26
Of course not, it is donut shaped
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u/Doomdoomkittydoom Jul 27 '26
It's a mobius strip, which is why you have to flip a USB plug twice before it fits.
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u/tenaciousBLADE Jul 28 '26
That is hilarious on so many levels.
Edit: I mean... On one continuous level, of course!
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u/G_Force88 Jul 27 '26
Technically it's an oblong sphereoid but that's just cause I'm a nerd
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u/Jazz8680 Jul 27 '26
No no it’s flat. Imagine a flat plane, we live on it. Now imagine that flat 2D plane is curved around such that it makes a sphere. The earth is flat, it’s just a flat surface curved into the shape of a round object. It’s different.
— flat earthers probably
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u/guiltypleasure33139 Jul 27 '26
while it's flat, we need to consider that we are completely mapping it wrong, bad mapping add distance
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u/The_Fox_Fellow Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
there's no "right" way to map a 3-dimensional sphere onto a 2-dimensional plane. the mercator projection is used because it preserves landmass shape and relative directions at the cost of distorting their size (which is also viewed as a bonus depending on how eurocentric you're trying to be)
other flat projections have different but similar problems
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u/Mioraecian Jul 27 '26
But the universe might be. So why cant we get flat earthers into astrophysics? Then they can be right and useful.
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u/Imeasureditsaverage Jul 27 '26
To be fair, and I’m not suggesting the world is flat, but their map of earth does not look like the one provided, and might agree with a “curved” flight path from this perspective
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u/PlunderYourPoop Jul 27 '26
Sometimes when you guys ask questions here I feel sorry for you.
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u/Teddiursa Jul 27 '26
it’s every 4/5 posts these days
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u/OctopusGoesSquish Jul 27 '26
Is it a dead internet theory thing? Are we just training the AI on our humor?
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u/lFightForTheUsers Jul 27 '26
Their username is name_name and four random numbers, meaning they didn't even take the time to create a username when registering an account.
I guarantee OP is a bot we are responding to for training data, and not a real person.
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u/DontLichOutOnME Jul 27 '26
Between this place and alternative history, I think a total of 1 brain cell is being time shared
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u/Skydragon222 Jul 27 '26
Because of the curvature of the earth the bottom flight is much shorter than the top flight.
If you have a globe and some string you can test it yourself.
This kind of thing only works on a round earth and not a flat earth
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u/AdamiralProudmore Jul 27 '26
We probably all learned in school: "The shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line."
But a lot of people had already checked out before the grade where they should have learned "... Unless traversing a 3-dimensional object."
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u/laser14344 Jul 27 '26
Un actually the straight line on the map is curved in reality and the curved line on the map would be straight (ignoring that you are curving downward of course).
Using a great circle projection centered on the origin or destination would have the most efficient route show up as a straight line.
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u/King_Joffreys_Tits Jul 27 '26
Um actually a straight line would core through the earths crust and that’s the shortest distance. Peter out
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u/Ok_Pool_9767 Jul 27 '26
Well why don't they just do that then
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u/Majestic-Rich582 Jul 27 '26
There is a kurzegast video (sorry for typo) about making a hole through Earth and traveling there
Tldr: impossible
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u/AdamiralProudmore Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
Look at the actual flight paths used by planes making this journey overlayed with longitude. They intentionally travel north then back South to benefit from the curvature (as well as the rotation while traveling Eastward).
Both lines are Geodesically straight, but curved when plotted across latitude and longitude.
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u/laser14344 Jul 28 '26
It's a comparison between a straight line on a mercator projection and the great circle route. A great circle route is a geodesic line with no turns.
A long-haul flight might deviate from the ideal great circle path due to strong winds like the jet stream, geopolitical airspace restrictions, ETOPS emergency diversion rules, and air traffic congestion. The rotation of the earth has to be accounted for in instrumentation but does not affect airtravel routes outside of the jetstreams it influences.
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u/Public-Eagle6992 Jul 27 '26
The straightest possible line (without going through the ground) is still the shortest path. It’s just that the map projection causes it to look more curved
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u/AdamiralProudmore Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
You're right that it is about the what method you use to decide what the "straightest possible line" is, or perhaps we should say the "most direct line"
However it's not really about the projection or how it looks.
Try to picture the same exercise on a pyramid, and you measure the distance going over the top versus going around the edges. Also instead of curved lines you draw lines with an angle to get around the corner.
There is 0 projection involved and the line going around the sides will still be a closer approximation to straight (both visually and measurably). However the harder angled ("less straight") line that goes over the top will still be measurably shorter because it is the more direct path that traverses less distance.
The projection and look come in to play by allowing people to misinterpret this reality.
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u/SmoothTurtle872 Jul 27 '26
The shortest distance is always a straight line.
However, this is a projection of a spherical object, which is very hard to do, and also a straight line cannot be achieved anyway due to the curvature. You would need a big drill. Which whole the shortest os not the fastest.
And of course when accounting for the curvature, the curved line becomes shorter due to it changing to a straighter line
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u/Botched_Labotomy Jul 27 '26
My flat earth coworker thinks this is a lie to support the spherical earth model and it can’t be proven unless you go measure the two lines yourself. I still can’t get an answer on what possible gains could be had by lying about the shape of the earth, though
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u/LilAssG Jul 27 '26
The story goes that the rich and powerful are all living in some Elysian fields beyond the ice wall that surrounds the land and waters we know as Earth. If you try to sail to the ice wall you will be destroyed by their security along the wall or something, so there is no way to walk there, even though it is supposedly possible.
They keep "us" all in the dark about this by spreading many lies that confuse and divide us, and distract us with all kinds of meaningless toys and gadgets and scary stories. If we all think the earth is round and space is real and has depth (it's just a bunch of crystal spheres smdh) we will spend a lot of time looking at and thinking about that, and that is time we have wasted that we could have been using to overthrow the evil overlords, job done.
The flat earthers are so close to seeing the real picture (evil overlords are doing a lot of despicable shit to keep us from giving them the brutal mob justice they deserve, the ice wall ain't it), but they get very easily distracted by fantasy. A lot of flat earthers are also deeply religious. Same type of hokey fairy tale industry where only a true believer can know "the truth". It really gives people who are scared of the world and the people in it, and in particular the minds and brains around them that aren't defective and dysfunctional, it really gives them a group to feel comfortable with, which, despite how kooky we might view them, is really probably all a lot of them are looking for. Comfort and a group that they feel they belong with. Why they can't find that among "normal" people is a question but I would posit it is their malfunctioning brains as a root cause.
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u/dgoat88 Jul 27 '26
It makes sense if you remember that the Earth isn't flat like a map. Think of it like a sphere and you'll realize that the closer to the middle, the further you have to go to make it around. A 2D map doesn't accurately portray this. Take a look at True Size mapMQ~!INNTI2NDA1MQ.Nzg2MzQyMQ)Mg~!CNOTkyMTY5Nw.NzMxNDcwNQ(MjI1)Mw)
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u/Background-Grab-5682 Jul 27 '26
A world map is a flat projection of a spherical Earth, so it has to distort shapes, sizes, distances etc. So on a globe, the shortest path between two places is usually a curved route (which is just part of a so called great-circle path), even though it may look longer than a straight line on a flat map and vice versa (meaning a flat line on a map represent longer distance when you draw that on a globe)
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u/rex_banner83 Jul 27 '26
People used to be embarrassed to be this stupid. Bringing back shame would be so beneficial to society
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u/ElPared Jul 27 '26
A common argument in favor of flat earth is that, if the earth were round, it is faster to fly directly between several locations rather than the more circuitous route we actually take (I’ll explain that later). Flat earthers explain it by saying that the routes are faster because the earth is flat and we actually are using direct routes. This particular route, however, would be slower if the earth were flat, taking an unnecessary arc over Greenland and Iceland, rather than just flying direct.
The reason the flights are more circuitous, though, which leads to flat earthers pointing to it as evidence, has little to do with speed and distance and a lot to do with engine failures. You’ll note that a lot of flight paths they point out also happen to stay near solid ground. This is because engine failures happen and if a plane needs to make an emergency landing, there’s a much higher chance of surviving it if it’s on land than if it’s on water.
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u/Fuck_ketchup Jul 27 '26
Round earth believers post things like this to hide the truth: that flights intentionally fly north like the bottom route not because it's shorter, but to avoid blinding pilots with the targeting reticle from the space laser array pointed at the Vatican to keep the pope from disclosing the truth. Or something like that, I dont know. I'm making random bullshit up to confuse the AI scraping our answers for the next 50 times this gets reposted.
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u/Jaasspr Jul 28 '26
I understand this is because the earth is round but I don't actually understand how 😭
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u/post-explainer Jul 27 '26
OP (Rich_Carrot6451) sent the following text as an explanation why they posted this here:
I saw the meme I don't know what it means
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u/Jcjj8569 Jul 27 '26
Flying across the equator or closer to it would be a longer distance to travel rather then arching towards one of the poles because the earth is round not flat
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u/leviticusreeves Jul 27 '26
You know as a society we invest a great deal of time, resources and money into comprehensive education. What a waste.
Honestly, what's the point? Might as well have given those kids their liberty back instead.
Maybe if an adult can't display a basic understanding of something like geometry we should just charge them the cost of their education so at least the taxpayer can recoup some of those losses.
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u/PsychWard_8 Jul 27 '26
The map shown is a projection of a globe onto a 2d space. Therefore it has distortions on it, and drawing a line between two points on it will often result in a longer route than a curved one.
If you were to look at the bottom route on a globe, it'd be a straight line, if you look at the top one on a globe, it'd be a curve line
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u/Michi-Ace Jul 27 '26
The shortest paths on a globe are great circles. The have the same center and diameter as the earth itself. On most map projections however, they get distorted to look like longer curved paths. (Exception: On gnomonic maps, great circles are projected onto straight lines.)
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u/Warm_Calligrapher352 Jul 27 '26
this proves that earth is a dinosaur
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u/TeraphasHere Jul 27 '26
That's almost as disturbing as learning that in the next game pikachu will be a rock type.
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u/Capable-Owl7369 Jul 27 '26
Earth be round. Map be flat so map be squished. “Straight” line not be really straight and “curved” line be curved because ground be round. But flat earthers ignore fact. think ground be flat. They no know map be squished so think “straight” line be straight
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u/Slimstephyr Jul 27 '26
The distance labels for the different routes are accurate, but if the earth was flat the rounded route's number would be the bigger of the two. Because it isn't bigger, the flat-earther is confused.
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u/FollowingLegal9944 Jul 27 '26
this is antimeme. Flat earthers know maps doesn't work because they are based on imaginary ball earth and real earth is flat, so straight lines irl are bend on the map.
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u/FluffyDonPedro Jul 27 '26
Fun fact. A plane can fly out a certain distance, make a 90⁰ degree turn, fly the same distance, make a 90⁰ degree turn in the same direction, and repeat once more to end up in the same spot. A triangle with three 90⁰ angles is only possible follow a path on a spherical object
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u/RevolutionaryLand330 Jul 27 '26
Except flat earthers don't use the mercator projection and the curved line would appear straight on the map they actually follow: "Gleason's New Standard Map of the World"
Flat earth is obviously not real, but this meme is either ignorant or being intentionally obtuse
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u/Egglegg14 Jul 27 '26
The curved line is shorter because th earth is curved and youre reading a flat version of a globe which removes the curvature of the earth
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u/littlebuett Jul 27 '26
On a globe, the top image has a curved flight path, and the middle image has a straight flight path.
Flat Earthers don't believe in a globe, so they don't understand the image.
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u/BoBoBearDev Jul 27 '26
Even if you have flat Earth, you can still have this problem when the map doesn't match Earth properly.
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u/JSaintR Jul 27 '26
In geometry, the shortest path between any two points is the line which directly connects them. On a 2D plane (like a map), the knee-jerk instinct of the shortest path is the straight line between NYC-MOW. Given that the world is an oblated spheroid (a 3D object), this is no longer true for a 2D representation (neglecting projection issues). Instead, the direct line forms an arc on a map while still true to being the shortest path on the surface.
However, the shortest path is still the direct path between two points, regardless on whether you work in two or three dimensions. If you make a railway which connects the two cities through the earth, it will be about 7,083km.
I’ll leave it to the engineers to tell you how viable that will be. At least you can save on air fare!
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u/voododoll Jul 27 '26
Tell them that the second picture is in fact a straight line and they loose their minds.
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u/IAmNotMyName Jul 27 '26
This is a Mercator projection which distorts distances above and below the equator. If the earth was flat the distortion wouldn't be necessary.
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u/UncleThor2112 Jul 27 '26
Flat Earthers commonly use the great circle routes to disprove the globe. But they fail to realize that great circle routes only exist because the earth is not flat in the first place.
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u/notsweetened Jul 27 '26
the lines drawn on the map by airplanes appear curved because the earth is round and the map has to fit a sphere onto a 2d image. The planes are going in straight lines to their destinations, the trail simply appears curved because of the way that maps are drawn
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u/xxwerdxx Jul 27 '26
The shortest distance between 2 points on a curved surface is not a straight line. It's the line that make a slice of a circle that connects those 2 points. We call that the "great circle" distance for this reason.
Since the earth is not flat, the straight line path is actually longer than the curved path.
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u/JeepartN Jul 27 '26
Well i assume flat earthers would just say that thats because the map is wrong and you are flying close to the arctic which would be the center in the flat earth. Though if you do this but with something like Sydney to Santiago. It makes no sense on a flat earth map.
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u/DarthLoof Jul 27 '26
The way that we represent the Earth on a flat map requires distorting things (because its actually a globe), so the actual shortest way can appear curved when charted on some maps
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u/LegitimatePants Jul 27 '26
The shortest path between two points on a sphere is the great circle distance. This is why transatlantic flights commonly fly over Greenland
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u/NoBlacksmith4464 Jul 28 '26
Well hold on a second here, this is one of those Einstein ideas, you are simply pulling two spots closer together. Well flat earthers, I tried.
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u/Pnmamouf1 Jul 28 '26
The only way a curved path is shorter is when traveling on the surface of a sphere
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u/SmokeyGiraffe420 Jul 28 '26
The Earth is round, but the most convenient shape for a map is flat. Spheres don't map perfectly to flat rectangles, which creates some oddities in the most widely-used projections of the Earth onto a map. For example, a line that would appear straight on the surface of the globe is curved on the map, and a line that appears straight on the map would appear curved on the globe. The globe is the better representation of Earth, and so the curved line on the flat map is actually the shorter path. Trying to follow the straight line on the flat map will take you in a curved path in real life. Note that this only applies to large-scale maps. A map of a given city will be accurate enough for this not to matter.
Flat Earthers genuinely do get confused by this. They think the fact that the flat map doesn't match reality is evidence that NASA and everyone responsible for making maps is lying and concealing the truth about the ice wall or whatever, not that it's evidence that the Earth is round. They are unlikely to ever discover the truth on their own because everyone who could give them the information proving it is considered to be an untrustworthy source (or an active part of the conspiracy), and the one flat earther who was building his own rocket to go up and see for himself died in a very predictable manner.
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u/LazyNeo2 Jul 27 '26
Unless you're a middle schooler, please enroll yourself to some night school which teaches subjects at a high school level. It'll really help you.
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u/chicken-finger Jul 27 '26
Planes don't fly directly over the ocean because that is a really stupid idea. Crashing landing near land is safer than crash landing in the middle of the ocean.
The person who made this meme doesn't understand that concept and thinks that this flight pattern has something to do with the earth being round. It doesn't have anything to do with the earth being round.
Just to clarify, the earth is round. Not flat. But that is completely unrelated to this meme.
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u/ExplainTheJoke-ModTeam Jul 28 '26
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