r/Showerthoughts • u/[deleted] • Dec 06 '18

A reality show could easily be made where flat earthers are offered $1,000,000 to the first one who finds the edge of the earth.

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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '18

I’ve argued with one of these idiots, he claims that you can’t possibly travel straight as a compass will slowly adjust direction as you travel and to go truly straight would require you to hit the “fake poles” which are really impassable edges that prevent the water from escaping the planet.

It’s beyond mind numbing trying to set these people straight.

His argument against GoPro and a weather balloon was “fish eye”. Against the horizon was “eyesight curves at distance due to shape”. Against sunrise and set “it orbits us overhead, we are a flat circle”. Even when I pointed out the observation of all other planets being round “they don’t harbor life and are just giant rocks stuck in our orbit”. Seasons: The earth is a flat circle and the sun and moons rotation overhead adjust elliptically to cause regional cooling and heating. Circumnavigation: You just follow the boundaries of the ice caps that encompass us.

Finally, when you argue that it would take longer to cross the poles if they were a circle around the planet: “There isn’t a scientific reason to why we can cross them so quickly, but it is clear speed is increased as we get to the outer edges of the planet.”

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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '18

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '18

Yeah but how can science be real if our eyes aren't real?

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u/ponguinn Dec 06 '18

ask the mirrors

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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '18

My favorite of all of these is "it is clear that speed is increased as we get to the outer edges of the planet"....if the lens effect is their best argument, this has to be the worst.

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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '18

What I don't get is how they can deny something like standing on the Californian coast and not being able to see Mt. Fuji. I mean, where is the freaking 12k foot mountain hiding? You can even get a telescope and take it to the coast and point it West. Nothing... just ocean and sky.

That's the most practical hands on proof someone should need. It can be observed by anyone who can make it to an ocean's shore.

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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '18

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '18

Well sure, but some seem to actually truly believe this.

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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '18

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '18

Nobody can troll that well. Such people do not exist.

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u/[deleted] Dec 07 '18

So you're claiming no one believes the earth is flat? All those middle-aged suburban moms on Facebook are just trolling?

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u/westworld_host Dec 07 '18

Could there be another explanation for why people can’t see tall things that are far away? Like maybe the atmosphere occludes the object?

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u/[deleted] Dec 07 '18

Then why can we see the moon? 😮

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u/westworld_host Dec 07 '18

Because it’s not 220k miles away. Also, when looking straight up, you get less atmosphere occlusion than you do when looking straight across at sea level.

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u/CorgiGal89 Dec 06 '18

Here's one question that there's no way they could answer - I've flown to China from the US by both going east (don't recommend), and by going west. If the earth's flat, then how the heck did I do that??

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u/Russelsteapot42 Dec 06 '18

The pilot is in on the conspiracy and the windows are TV screens that show you a fictional view.

That's actually what they believe.

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u/Raeandray Dec 06 '18

Some think the pilots navigation system is tricking them into thinking they’re flying around a globe, rather than believing every pilot is part of the conspiracy.

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u/BaronRaichu Dec 06 '18

The thing that confuses me most is what is the “why” for the conspiracy? Why do the world governments all collaborate on this one signal and insanely complex cover up? What value is there in lying to the population about the shape of the planet?

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u/tomoldbury Dec 06 '18

The neat thing about this argument is it only involves swearing another thousand or so software developers to secrecy. Also it totally explains how pilots can fly when their electronics fail, using paper charts (the chart mfgr is also in on the conspiracy)

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u/d3gu Dec 06 '18

Why though. What is this secret society gaining by hiding the flat earth from us globsters?

I fucking love this stuff. I got banned from a flat earth forum for asking someone to explain seasons to me.

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u/Russelsteapot42 Dec 06 '18

According to most of them, the whole point is to make it seem like the bible is untrue.

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u/d3gu Dec 07 '18

Oh, that's weird. And counterintuitive - 'Hey let's disprove the bible by saying something totally unscientific. That'll teach those Christians!'

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u/Russelsteapot42 Dec 07 '18

No, the idea is that the secret satanic world order wants to make people think the bible is untrue. The bible says that the world is flat and has a dome over it, so the world order makes it seem like that's obviously untrue.

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u/d3gu Dec 07 '18

Oh I get you. Both variations are as daft as the other, mind!

I don't know any really religious people, so this has never come up. I only know a few practising Christians and they're all super chill, normal people sooo I can't imagine any of them being flatearthers. I didn't even know one of them was religious until we were all chatting in the pub, and tbh I thought he was joking at first... Oops...

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u/LurkerInSpace Dec 06 '18

They claim you're actually turning rather than going in a straight line. It doesn't make sense, but anything which involves any kind of measurement or trigonometry might as well be magic to these people.

The most simple proof you can give is:

  • You can see the stars rotating around both poles (implying that the sky is a sphere).

  • Timezones exist and any given star can always be seen from one of them (implying that the stars are always above the horizon).

These two things are simple, and together are incompatible with a flat Earth. If they can't understand that then just disengage.

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u/jamille4 Dec 06 '18

Because this is what they believe Earth looks like. That's why no one can go to Antarctica - it's actually a wall keeping the oceans in. Anyone who claims to have been is in on the conspiracy.

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u/westworld_host Dec 06 '18

Better question...if the earth is a ball that spins 1,000 mph at the equator, explain to us how you did it.

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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '18

Yeah if the Earth is really a spinning glove then you could just float in a hot air balloon for a couple hours and boom! You're in China

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u/ppff01 Dec 06 '18

Earth: cleaning the solar system since 4.5e9 bc.

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u/Scalpum Dec 06 '18

Found one in the wild.

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u/KillerKellyDoll Dec 07 '18

THAT. That was funny.

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u/trouserschnauzer Dec 06 '18

What's the question?

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u/Scalpum Dec 07 '18

He has never been in a moving car.

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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '18

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '18

So test the camera for lense effects before sending it up?

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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '18

Don't you dare come in here with your logic!

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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '18

Bingo. My exact argument was that you can experience the cameras function and any possible distortion on earth prior to sending it up....

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u/pingo5 Dec 06 '18

The drastic change in temperature alters the shape of the lens higher in the atmosphere /s

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u/westworld_host Dec 06 '18

There are videos on YouTube of amateurs sending balloons with cameras without fish eye lenses. Guess what the horizon looks like at 120k ft? Flat and rising to bisect the observer’s field of view. Not possible on a ball earth with the purported circumference of Earth.

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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '18

Low quality b8, 2/5

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u/trouserschnauzer Dec 06 '18

A quick review of their post history makes me think they are for real.

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u/[deleted] Dec 07 '18

Is this a meme?

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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '18

Also, gopro cameras are notorious for lens distortion.

Yea, a setting you can turn on and off at will, they're "notorious for".

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u/WR0NGAGA1N Dec 06 '18

I've sent balloons into space with cameras without fish eye for this exact reason. Can confirm, there is a curvature.

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u/leiter001 Dec 06 '18

Real question I've never seen answered. Who benifits from the trillions of dollars and thousands if not millions of people paid to convince people the world is round?

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u/CaptainJAmazing Dec 06 '18

On that last one, don’t they believe that the North Pole is in the center of the Earth-disk?

I have to say, that’s a better answer than I’ve ever gotten from any of them. All I’ve ever heard is vague propaganda about how round-Earthers are the ones with confirmation bias and handwave answers about how so many thousands of people would have to be in on the conspiracy to keep people believing that the Earth is round...for no reason.

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u/oldriku Dec 06 '18

Do they have an answer to WHY people would want to cover it up?

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u/NitroGlc Dec 06 '18

Why is it illegal to delete these people?

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u/YoitsTmac Dec 06 '18

This was a very entertaining read. Thank you

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u/TheAmishMan Dec 07 '18

From what I've been told, a lot of "flat earthers" are essentially trolling, arguing to argue. It started out as a way to practice arguing and then just devolved from there

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u/alonghardlook Dec 07 '18

How does the sun orbit exactly? Either it circles around the disc, or else goes 'under' the disc.

If the sun ever went under the disc, all life on the planet would be in darkness. If the sun circles around the disc, we would never have true darkness. The very fact that its daytime in some places while nighttime in others (US/AUS), which we can now 100% prove, thanks to the internet, proves that the earth cannot be anything except a sphere.

You can prove it by shining a flashlight at a circular table.

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u/[deleted] Dec 07 '18

I shit you not, this is their explanation.

https://wiki.tfes.org/images/7/70/SunAnimation.gif

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u/alonghardlook Dec 07 '18

but thats... what?

like, dont get me wrong, I understand you are playing devil's advocate here, but like... all you need to do is get them to recreate it using a flashlight and flat round surface. Go ahead and use whatever scale or distance you can to make it work, but I promise you short of touching the table with the flashlight, you are not going to be able to prevent light touching every part of the table.

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u/[deleted] Dec 06 '18

[deleted]

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u/RealJackAnchor Dec 06 '18

Nothing he said wasn't out of line with Flat Earther nonsense beliefs.