The theory follows from a mode of thought called the 'Zetetic Method,' an alternative to the scientific method, developed by a 19th-century flat-earther, in which sensory observations reign supreme. 'In a nutshell, it would logically cost much less to fake a space program than to actually have one, so those in on the Conspiracy profit from the funding NASA and other space agencies receive from the government,' the flat-earther website's FAQ page explains. The motive for world governments' concealment of the true shape of the Earth has not been ascertained, but flat-earthers believe it is probably financial. Then, there's the conspiracy theory: Flat-earthers believe photos of the globe are photoshopped GPS devices are rigged to make airplane pilots think they are flying in straight lines around a sphere when they are actually flying in circles above a disc.

(Einstein's laws apparently still hold in this alternate version of reality.)Īs for what lies underneath the disc of Earth, this is unknown, but most flat-earthers believe it is composed of 'rocks.' Currently, there is disagreement among flat-earthers about whether or not Einstein's theory of relativity permits Earth to accelerate upward indefinitely without the planet eventually surpassing the speed of light. Objects do not accelerate downward instead, the disc of Earth accelerates upward at 32 feet per second squared (9.8 meters per second squared), driven up by a mysterious force called dark energy. Flat-earthers believe there must also be an invisible 'antimoon' that obscures the moon during lunar eclipses.įurthermore, Earth's gravity is an illusion, they say. (Stars, they say, move in a plane 3,100 miles up.) Like spotlights, these celestial spheres illuminate different portions of the planet in a 24-hour cycle. Earth's day and night cycle is explained by positing that the sun and moon are spheres measuring 32 miles (51 kilometers) that move in circles 3,000 miles (4,828 km) above the plane of the Earth. NASA employees, they say, guard this ice wall to prevent people from climbing over and falling off the disc. The leading flat-earther theory holds that Earth is a disc with the Arctic Circle in the center and Antarctica, a 150-foot-tall wall of ice, around the rim. But in the 21st century, can they be serious? And if so, how is this psychologically possible?įirst, a brief tour of the worldview of a flat-earther: While writing off buckets of concrete evidence that Earth is spherical, they readily accept a laundry list of propositions that some would call ludicrous.

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