You can’t live without a belief system, there must be a religion to link people. And yes atheist is also a religion ironically, but a materialist one.
Philosophically speaking if the founding myth is a unique earth and the whole universe turn around it, it will gives your life more importance and meaning than living on a meaningless rock full of water spinning in a infinite space with trillions of other stars and planets with maybe similar life forms as us.
As a thought experiment it is a interesting, and maybe it is true. :partying_face:
I have always suspected that some of it is down to attention seeking, but I do actually know one flat earther. His daughter was badly injured and this led to him losing the plot somewhat. He began insisting that the earth was flat and pointing to various passages in the Bible which he claimed proved it. Then insisting that other people were not proper Christians if they did not follow a literal interpretation of the Bible. In his case it does not seem to be attention seeking but genuine illness so I have muted him on social media, and get the occasional update on how bad he has got from my wife
It always amazes me to hear people say the Earth is flat. Hundreds of years of scientific research and one YouTube video changes your mind. I used to argue with these types of people, but it is no use. The problem, I have found, is their weak mental fortitude. A lot of these individuals also believe vaccinations for deadly diseases are unhealthy, the moon landings were faked, and Elvis Presley is still alive
Here are some photos I took myself, from my own cell phone flying at 40,000-45,000 ft. (pictures are clickable):
Another from 51,000ft (if I recall correctly):
If that isn’t enough proof the Earth is round, then you have a mental disorder and probably shouldn’t reproduce (only slightly kidding)
You can’t see the curvature of earth at such low altitude, its a illusionary effect because of perspective.
Its like saying this road is in a triangle shape.
Even Neil Degrasse Tyson explain you can’t see the curvature unless you are in space.
I honestly never realized that flat earthers were a real thing until some youtube videos showed up in my feed about some $100k bet and how the flat earther kept dodging paying out on it.
There was the whole myth about sailing your ship off the edge of the planet… until some people, like Christopher Columbus, decided to “go for it.” The curvature is there. You can easily see it with a high powered telescope as ships sail off to the horizon. Lasers will also prove it. But flat Earthers are mentally ill people.
But… if the earth was a flat round disc, there would be an EDGE. A prominent edge that would be a massive spectacle to go see. THERE IS NONE. Where are the photos? Where are the trips to see the edge?
Even still, we need a globe for orbits. ORBITS. Those satellites that roam around the Earth would fall out of the sky if they weren’t in orbit. ORBIT. ORB. SPHERE. GLOBE.
This is why it’s such utter time wasting nonsense. It’s like arguing 2+2=4 with a dog.
It’s all a conspiracy! There is no such thing as space travel and ships and planes do fall off the edge of the earth. However immediate teleportation takes them to the other side of the earth seamlessly and quicker than one can process. Same with satellites of course.
It’s sad to see that people believe in things that were known to be false 2,000 years ago. With the push back against science these days in the US it will only get worse
Flat earthers are entitled to their beliefs without being insulted and treated like idiots, as are all the people that believe in an all powerful deity (God, Allah, whatever) as there is NO proof whatsoever that one exists, yet as an Atheist I am insulted by so called religious people all the time and am told that proof is not needed just faith.
So let the flat earthers believe in what they want to and I let me continue in my disbelief without ridicule.
Cheers David
Do not start a religious discussion here as it is against the forum code of conduct also I have no interest in people trying to convert me to their beliefs.
That’s like saying people are entitled to believe 2+2=3. They’re not. The bad math screws up everything. People believe a conspiracy “like” a religion, meaning on blind faith… that’s the only commonality. Just an analogy on that factor. But it’s just wrong to believe something so outrageously false. Not that we need Thought Police roaming around, locking up anyone who believes the Earth is flat. Just that people shouldn’t propagate such falsehoods. THAT is wrong. They only bolster the movement, which is doomed to begin with because it’s based on an all out lie.
Atheism is a religion like baldness is a hair colour, not collecting stamps is a hobby, and abstinence is a sex position.
Atheism has no dogma, no agenda, no teachings. There are prominent thinkers and leaders who are atheists, but no atheist leaders because it is not a movement.
Nothing represents atheism because atheism is not a thing that can be represented, it is an absence of theism.
The ONLY thing all atheists have in common is that they are not convinced any theism is valid.
Back to the topic of flat-earthers.
The simplest demonstration that I can’t see how they can refute is a long distance phone call.
If it’s the middle of the day where you are, and you can be having a conversation with someone you trust who tells you it is the middle of the night, how can they explain that with a flat earth?
Fact based evidence would convince normal folks that the earth is indeed not flat. What you are dealing with here is illogically thinking people. Or they just like attention. Either way, they seem to figure out how to breed. That is what scares me. It’s been proven that the harder you try to convince someone of the truth and change their mind, the more devout in their beliefs they become. Strange but true.
(only slightly kidding)
