Why is the earth flat and round? The shortest path on Earth and on the map

The famous basketball player Shaquille O'Neal said that he is a supporter of the theory flat earth. Despite the humorous tone of the message, it immediately hit the media headlines and caused a heated discussion among conspiracy theorists.

RT asked a psychologist why the marginal Flat Earth Society is becoming mainstream and why people are starting to believe in more and more incredible things.

NBA legend and center Shaquille O'Neal said he shares the position of Cleveland point guard Kyrie Irving, who said the Earth is flat.

"It's true. The earth is flat. Listen, there are three ways to manipulate consciousness: with the help of what we read, see and hear. The first thing we are taught at school is that Columbus discovered America. However, think about it: when he got here, he met red-skinned people with long hair smoking peace pipes. So Columbus didn’t discover America,” O’Neill said on The Big Podcast. After this discouraging statement, the legendary basketball player continued to egg on his co-hosts.

A few weeks earlier, Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving made a similar statement, but later said he was just joking. Such comedic comments from famous athletes have caused a stir in the American segment of the Internet, because, as it turns out, the flat Earth society is becoming increasingly popular.

The Flat Earth Society is a fringe organization even according to various US conspiracy theorists and alternative historians following the trail of UFOs, Bigfoot and Masonic conspiracies. Thus, the popular conspiracy channel on YouTube Secure Team has almost a million subscribers and videos with supposedly alien objects and murky photographs of alien bases on the Moon. In one of the published materials, the channel’s authors expressed regret at the “growing number of people who have regressed into this ancient faith.” The channel was immediately attacked by thousands of Flat Earth Society followers.

The society itself states on its website that it is guided exclusively by scientific principles. According to adherents of the theory, resorting to the method of Cartesian skepticism, the burden of proof lies with anyone who believes that the Earth is spherical. They regard the evidence for this as insignificant or fabricated. At the same time, they are happy to publish videos from low orbit, allegedly proving that the Earth is flat.

“The most reliable evidence for a flat Earth is the Bedford level experiment. Conducted many times over a six-mile stretch of water, it has produced results which prove that there is no curvature of the earth's surface." on the society's website.

The experiment the organization refers to was conducted by the English inventor and founder of the society, Samuel Rowbotham, in 1838.

• Bedford experiment

Members of the society claim that our planet is a flat disk 40,000 kilometers in diameter, centered around the North Pole. Also, adherents of this theory deny the existence of gravity and the South Pole, instead of which there is a huge wall ice.

Followers of this theory claim that all photographs of the Earth from space are computer-generated, and the belief in a spherical Earth supports a global conspiracy of governments and scientists. Space flight is a hoax, and the moon landing was filmed jointly by Stanley Kubrick and Andrei Tarkovsky from a script by Arthur C. Clarke.

Society produces a huge amount of Internet content, literally overwhelming its supporters and opponents with a variety of “evidence”: from the obscure mathematical formulas to lists of Bible quotations. It got to the point that even fundamentalist Christians took up arms against flat Earth followers. Radical Baptist preacher Stephen Anderson, himself a peddler of world government conspiracy theories, launched an angry tirade against the society's followers.

Many alternative journalists, historians and conspiracy theorists have suggested that behind the Flat Earth Society itself there may be government intelligence agencies who want to make ridicule of any alternative views on the world.

RT turned to Alexander Neveev, candidate of psychological sciences, for comment. The scientist explained that there are two reasons why people may suddenly begin to take anti-scientific postulates seriously.

“The first is external to the person. We receive a huge amount of information in the form of specially prepared information packages. We are simply told about something and we take it on faith. This is completely normal, since we do not need to know absolutely everything from our own experience. You don't need to go to America to find out how people live there. But side effect This is because people have misunderstandings and fears that some forces may distort any information. The media saturates people with news and facts, but no one is concerned with developing an understanding of them. As a result, we have a similar situation. No one has seen our globe with their own eyes, only in photographs, so a huge number of insinuations are possible,” said the psychologist.

“The second reason is that our minds are initially built into systems of errors - cognitive distortions and heuristics. Under the influence of these distortions, we tend to believe that our version of events is the most plausible. A person does not seek a refutation of his beliefs. Our mind operates on the principle of cognitive ease - we tend to consider what does not bother us as truth. This is actually an illusion. Conspiracy theories exploit the problem that we cannot directly present a person with evidence to the contrary - send him into orbit and show that the Earth is round. It is very difficult to explain to them mathematically and astronomically the parameters that forced scientists to come to such a conclusion. It’s very easy to say that scientists lied and the Earth is flat, and it’s very easy to accept it,” the expert concluded.

Nowadays you won’t see any trends and you won’t be surprised at what statements. Is this really to increase recognition in certain areas? All for the sake of fame, albeit dubious?
People who claim that the earth is flat instantly become famous and recognizable. So, the earth is flat - and immediately we get maximum attention. Profit.

And we'll talk about this now.

November 9-10, 2017 in Raleigh, the capital of North Carolina, will be held The 2017 Flat Earth International Conference. This event, as stated on the official website, is an “educational endeavor individuals and organizations united by the common goal of genuine scientific exploration of the created earth.”

While science has firmly established many facts about the structure of the solar system in general and the Earth in particular, the “flat-earther” movement is gaining popularity among ordinary people (not only in the USA, but also in other countries too). These people believe that the surface of the Earth is flat and deny generally accepted explanations for the change of day and night, seasons, the occurrence of eclipses and other astronomical events.

The organizers list the most “outrageous” facts, in their opinion. Among them are the linear speed of movement of the earth's surface at the equator, associated with the daily rotation of the planet, the speed of movement of the Sun in the Milky Way, estimated by astrometetic methods based on galactic dynamics, as well as the overall speed of movement of our Galaxy determined from the intensity of the dipole component of the cosmic microwave background radiation.
The conference website states that “every experiment ever conducted to confirm even the simplest rotation of the Earth has failed to confirm it.” They promise to reveal at the event “genuine evidence that shockingly points to the existence of a flat, motionless surface.”

The 2017 Flat Earth International Conference is the first such annual event. More than a dozen speakers are scheduled to attend. Among the reports are the following: “NASA and other space lies”, “Flat Earth and the Bible”, “Flat Earth with the scientific method” and others.
An American rapper is raising money for a satellite to prove that the Earth is flat.

American rap artist Bobby Ray Simons - B.o.B - began raising money to launch a satellite to prove that the Earth is flat.

Bobby Ray Simons believes that information about the round shape of the Earth is just a conspiracy by space agencies, writes Nation News. The artist believes that from his satellite it will be possible to see the curvature of the Earth's disk.

Fundraising is carried out on the crowdfunding platform GoFoundMe, notes Channel 360. B.o.B actively promotes his ideas on Twitter and even recorded the track Flatline, in which he criticized astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse.

Earlier, the federal channel REN TV prepared a film about the flat Earth theory. The premiere of the scientific film was announced by one of the most famous adherents of this teaching, Pavel Sviridov, on his page on VKontakte. Sviridov believes that our planet never had the shape of a ball; this belief is the machinations of scientists who rebelled against church teachings, and photographs from satellites are a montage.
The image of a flat Earth is often found in literature and cinema, especially in science fiction.

Terry Pratchett, an English author of humorous fiction, created a voluminous series of works about the universe, which is called Discworld. This world, which is a huge disk, rests on the backs of four elephants, and they stand on the back of a gigantic turtle named A’Tuin. Pratchett borrowed the image of such a world from Indian mythology.

Flammarion's engraving of an astronomer reaching the edge of the "Flat Earth", 1888

In Clive Lewis's book The Dawn Treader, or Voyage to the End of the World, the characters take a voyage to the ends of the world. According to Narnia cosmology, the world is flat, and beyond its edge is Aslan's country - a local paradise. Lewis thus sought to emphasize the antiquity of Narnia, its closeness to the realities of medieval myth, and specifically asked his illustrator that the map of Narnia resemble an ancient, distorted map of the world.

In the legendarium of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially in the book “The Silmarillion”, it is repeatedly emphasized that the world of Arda was initially created flat, and only when the world was changed by Eru Ilúvatar during the fall of Numenor, the world, figuratively speaking, was “collapsed” and became round .

The story of the modern Russian writer Sergei Sinyakin “Monk at the End of the Earth” (1999) describes the following situation: an expedition on the Osoaviakhim-1 stratospheric balloon proved the theory of a flat Earth, reaching the dome of the heavens, and even mined a platinum star. All members of the expedition were repressed, since Comrade Stalin considered that materialist science was more consistent with the political situation. Thus, the launches of the first satellites, Yuri Gagarin and flights to the Moon were a grandiose hoax of the special services, distorting the true picture of the world.
In Philip Farmer's science fiction novel Set Sail! Columbus, sailing to discover India, comes to a waterfall at the end of the Earth, where the horizon breaks, and the caravel falls into it.

The third film "Pirates of the Caribbean" uses the same plot: in order to get to the next world after Captain Jack Sparrow, his crew sails on a sailboat to the edge of the earth and falls from it along with an ocean waterfall. A similar plot also appeared in the film “Time Bandits.”

In realistic literature and cinema there are satirical depictions of people who believe in a flat Earth. These are some of the characters in Ludwig Holberg’s comedy “Erasmus the Highlander” (Erasmus Montanus, 1723), Rudyard Kipling’s story “How the Earth was Voted to Be Flat” (1917), etc. In these books, the “flat Earth” appears as a hyperbole of militant ignorance.

In the film “The Gods Must Be Crazy” (South Africa, 1980) main character, Bushman He, wants to throw the “cursed” empty bottle of “Cola” from the edge of the Earth. At the end of the picture, he throws a bottle from a high cliff, below the edge of which clouds float, believing that he has achieved his goal.
In the film "Dark City" (USA, 1998), wanderers - aliens who have inhabited human corpses - create a flat world as part of an experiment to study human soul. At the end of the film, the main character manages to gain power over reality, and the Sun rises over the flat Earth.

Modern flat earthers:
Despite the fact that the theory of the sphericity of the Earth is generally accepted, there is a Flat Earth Society, which aims to prove that the Earth is flat. According to his supporters, all governments on Earth have entered into a global conspiracy to deceive people.
The cosmology of society is:

1. The Earth is a flat disk 40,000 kilometers in diameter, centered near the North Pole
2. The Sun and Moon rotate over the Earth's surface. The same thing happens with the stars.
3. The force of gravity arises due to the fact that the Earth moves upward with an acceleration of 9.8 m/s².
4. The South Pole does not exist. What seems to us like Antarctica is an ice wall encircling the world.
5. All photographs of the Earth from space are fakes.
6. Space also does not exist, all launches of satellites and people are fakes.

The distance between objects in the southern hemisphere is much greater. The fact that flights between them occur faster than should be according to the flat Earth map is explained by the fact that the crew and passengers of airliners and ships are also involved in the conspiracy [not in the source].
Some fundamentalist Islamic leaders argue that the spherical shape of the Earth contradicts Muslim teachings.
The last President of the Transvaal Republic, Paulus Kruger, in a conversation with the sailor Joshua Slocum, who alone circumnavigated the Earth on a sailboat, repeated: “No, you probably mean not around the Earth, that’s impossible!”

In 2016, American rapper B.o.B, who defended his belief in the flatness of the Earth in a series of tweets, entered into a public dispute with astrophysicist and famous popularizer of science Neil DeGrasse Tyson, which escalated into an exchange of disses.

On September 25, 2017, in the program The Most Shocking Hypotheses, Russian TV presenter Igor Prokopenko presented the Flat Earth theory. Critical comments from experts were not presented in the program.

Famous people who suffered for the “round” earth. Who was burned at the stake for saying the earth is round?

Of the propagandists of the spherical shape of the Earth, only Giordano Bruno was burned. But that’s not why they burned him at all. In today's "liberal" times, he would also get quite a decent sentence.

Giordano Bruno, indeed, was executed - but not for the “round Earth”, which in his time was no longer a sensation, but for the “ideologically harmful” propaganda of the idea of ​​​​a plurality of worlds, including the heliocentric solar system (according to Copernicus). And also other, purely religious statements.

A pantheist and Pythagorean, a man who sought not nature in God, but God in nature, Giordano Bruno, of course, did not fit into the framework of medieval theology. And since the Inquisition was an applied expression of theology, the end of the life of a free philosopher is logical. After exile and many years of wandering in France, England and Germany, his return to Italy (where he was lured by cunning) led to charges of heresy and imprisonment. Eight years in the dungeons of the Inquisition, then a trial.

At the trial, Bruno was urged in every possible way to renounce his mistakes, because in defending his views, he risks his life. Bruno's answers were simple and majestic: “There are people whose love for the Divine will is so great that no threats or intimidation can shake them... Death in one century makes the thinker immortal for future centuries.”

The freethinker's sentence was as severe as possible: death at the stake. And again Bruno is calm and dignified: “You pronounce this sentence with more fear than I listen to it.” And even after the verdict, Bruno had the opportunity to buy life at the cost of renunciation. But he didn't bargain. "I die a martyr voluntarily..."

On February 17, 1600, in one of the squares of Rome, everything necessary for a huge bonfire was prepared. A solemn procession entered the square amid the ringing of bells and the shouts of the crowd. In front, the servant carried a blood-red banner, followed by priests in ceremonial robes, singing prayers. In the center of the procession is the condemned man. He walks slowly, the chains that shackle his arms and legs clink. It is impossible to penetrate his thoughts now, but eyewitnesses note the paleness and calmness, the unearthly detachment on his tired face.

Giordano Bruno calmly climbs the steps of the scaffold and looks at the sky while the executioners tie him with a chain to a post. A gust of wind moved his brown hair and brought a strand of hair down over his eyes, but Bruno couldn’t raise his arms. He tilts his head slightly so that he can still see the world in his last moments...

It's already spring in Rome. The aroma of the awakened earth is wonderful and the sparkle of the spring sky is tender. Was it worth all this to believe that you were right? The inquisitors greedily peer into the face of the condemned: will he not tremble at the last moment, will he ask for mercy, will he repent? Bruno is silent. Not a sound comes from his chest while the fire is lit below. One of the executioners frantically strikes a spark, and finally manages to ignite the shavings. The soaring flames almost instantly engulf the clumsily put together platform and the pillar with the flesh chained to it.

Copernicus died on May 24, 1543 at the age of 70 from a stroke. Some biographers (for example, Tiedemann Giese) claim that the author managed to see his work published shortly before his death. But others argue that this was impossible, since Copernicus was in a severe coma during the last months of his life.

The book of Copernicus has remained as an outstanding monument to human thought. From this moment the beginning of the first scientific revolution dates back.

Let's start with the most popular theory that the Earth is flat, let's go!
Let’s clarify right away: flat earthers are those who believe that the earth is flat.

Fact 1: Airplanes do not adjust altitude during long-distance flights
As the flat-earthers whispered to me, the plane without constant altitude adjustment would fly into space or at least somewhere into the upper atmosphere, but this does not happen. Why? Because the Earth is flat - that's what flat-earthers mean.

Fact 2: Rivers flow in any direction
Rivers cannot flow upward, but they flow in completely different directions across the Earth.

Fact 3: Conspiracy of professionals
Professionals NEVER take into account your imaginary curvature of the planet - this is what flat-earthers say. Surveyors, pilots, drillers, architects - everyone makes their calculations based on the fact that the Earth is flat! They know, but every single one of them is in cahoots with the government, which in turn is under the control of the reptilians!

Fact 4: Flat earth on the UN flag
They note the fact that the UN flag depicts a flat Earth. The Illuminati once again demonstrates their power over us. “I’ll show you what the Earth looks like, but I’ll make you believe in a ball!”

Fact 5: The Sun is not millions of kilometers away from the Earth
Proponents of the Earth Shape Conspiracy claim that the Sun is actually located only 4,800 kilometers from the planet and is approximately 51 kilometers in size. This is an interdimensional light bulb that circles above the earth's disk and illuminates its parts like a beacon.

Fact 6: Influential people confirm that the earth is flat
Many people prefer to believe that only illiterate and narrow-minded people can believe in the flat shape of the Earth. However, many famous personalities held similar views. Among them are our contemporaries, whose names may be familiar to you. For example, the Nigerian terrorist Mohammed Yusuf, the founder of the Boko Haram organization, which vehemently hates the Western education system for its perverted worldview. They also say that one of the creators of the cartoon about Scooby Doo held similar views.
If Yusuf is not an authority for you, then the opinion of another prominent political figure of the 20th century, Adolf Hitler, is suitable as an argument. He was the only one who not only knew about the true nature of the earth, but was also able to look beyond the icy edge (which NASA passes off as Antarctica).

Fact 7: Horizon line
This conclusion came about because when people see the horizon line, it appears straight. Although it would be logical to assume that if the earth is a sphere, then the horizon should be at least slightly curved, like an arc. However, it's all about the scale and position of the beholder. Since a person himself is on the surface of the planet and sees only a tiny part of it, his eyes simply do not catch this curvature.

Fact 8: Antarctica is an impenetrable ice wall
In the generally accepted flat Earth model, the world is a disk in the center of which the North Pole is located. The outer rim of the circle is a continuous ice wall - Antarctica. According to supporters of the theory, this ice wall is needed to prevent the oceans from spreading. And no one knows what is on the other side of the wall. Some say that there endless ice, the end of which neither the human eye nor even the most powerful telescope can see. Others think that the ice still ends with a cliff leading into an endless abyss.

Fact 9: Lunar eclipses are caused by an invisible object
Lunar eclipses occur when the Earth, Sun and Moon line up and our planet casts a shadow covering the surface of the Moon. But if the Earth is flat, this cannot happen. However, lunar eclipses do exist, and the flat Earth model says that the cause is some celestial object hidden in the glare of the sun's rays. And sometimes it passes in front of the Moon, leaving a shadow. But there is another version, based on the presence of a dome and deception. According to this version, the Moon is an ordinary hologram created by influential people who rule the entire planet. Here I think no comments or explanations are needed.

Fact 10: NASA was founded by the Nazis.
Proponents of the theory are confident that “if you mix the Freemasons, the Illuminati, the forces of Satan, lizards and a little magic powder in a blender, you get NASA. Worse than NASA only the people controlling this organization, but no one saw them. Many assume that the Nazis are behind everything.
To confirm this, activists cite the following facts. “Fast forward to the 1940s. Second World War in full swing. Young engineer Wernher von Braun builds rockets for the Nazis. It was he who designed the V-2 ballistic missile, which rained hellish fire on London in 1944. In 1945, the engineer was captured and handed over to the Allies. After that, he began working for the US Army and became one of the main people working on the American space program. Under his leadership, the Saturn 5 rocket was created. And then other technological breakthroughs followed and plans began to appear to explore other worlds. As a result, NASA considers Brown one of the greatest scientists ever."

What do you think? Does it spin or is it flat?

In the middle of the last century, these people united in the Flat Earth Society and have now generated so much evidence for their theory that they have even appeared on the pages of respected publications like the BBC and The Guardian. We talk about the strangest conspiracy theory of our time.

What kind of people are these?

If we do not take into account the ancient ideas about the structure of the world and all the “scientific” calculations of those times, the first person who made a major contribution to the emergence of the Flat Earth Society was Samuel Rowbotham. This is an English inventor who lived in the 19th century. In addition to inventions, Samuel spent his life disproving the heliocentric theory of the structure of the Universe and proving that our planet is actually a flat pancake.

During his life, Samuel developed several important “evidences” and gained fans who, after the death of the inventor, continued his brave work. Fans founded their own communities (among them the Ecumenical Zetetic Society and churches), and somehow nurtured Rowbotham's "flat" ideas until the middle of the 20th century. In 1956, the Universal Zetetic Society was reborn as International Society flat Earth under the patronage and presidency of the American Samuel Shenton.

In those days, the community's ideas were spread through leaflets, newsletters, magazines (the first dated 1931, and the rest were published after 1977) and word of mouth, but the society's audience grew steadily. The Internet has made tools for disseminating the ideas of society accessible - websites, forums, publications in online publications, our own encyclopedias and Wikipedia pages.

As science developed, the discovery of space programs and the first extraterrestrial successes of mankind, the Society had to deny more and more things and find flaws in the material evidence. According to followers of the flat Earth idea, NASA is lying, there was no landing on the Moon, all photographs of the Earth from space are fabricated (by the location of some details in the photographs, in particular shadows, this can be easily proven, members of the society believe), airplane pilots are in cahoots with physicists, and the idea of ​​an ellipsoidal Earth exists only to fool people and waste taxpayers' money on other dubious things.

What's the point?

The main ideas of society are:

• The earth is flat as a pancake and has a diameter of 40,000 kilometers.
• The diameter of the Sun is 50 kilometers, it is located at an altitude of several hundred kilometers (and not 150 million) above the Earth and moves along a complex trajectory (the trajectory can be seen in the last video in this article) above the planet.
• The stars also move above the Earth, somewhere behind the Sun, along their own complex trajectories.
• There are no two turtles and three whales, no one holds the Earth in space. There is no gravity either, the disk simply flies upward at a speed of 9.8 m/s. The sun and stars, presumably, do this with her.
• At the center of the flat Earth is the North Pole, with continents and oceans around it. All this is surrounded by a dense wall of ice (alas, without flame). Therefore, it is impossible to fall over the edge of the earth and therefore water does not flow over it. And the South Pole does not exist at all. Airplane pilots lie by spending more time in the air than required when they can fly a short route between continents of different hemispheres. By the way, this picture of the world is the logo of the community.

Flat Earth Society

The society sees its mission as promoting and initiating discussion about the flat Earth theory, and offers its forums as a platform for encouraging free thinking and discussion, where “free thinkers” could “bravely and intelligently” confront supporters of the globe.

The ideas of the Flat Earth Society are received with a bang by some religious people, since, unlike the classical theory, they do not contradict the scriptures and do not require deep knowledge of physics. More precisely, rather the opposite - they require serious ignorance in scientific matters.

The society already has its own official website and pages on social networks ( Facebook And Twitter ), as well as a gallery at Flickr. Judging by the site, the guys who run the organization have an excellent sense of humor, style and proportion, and they are great at bringing out all the inner demons of the followers of this “free-thinking”, because on the thorny path of proof, the followers of the society famously cross divine theories with naked physics Baba Mani's level and god-level mathematics.

A caravan of delightful arguments

Over the years of the society's existence, plenty of “evidence” has accumulated. Some of the society activists even produced a two-hour proof film in which as many as 200 arguments are presented. Those who are strong in spirit and know English can learn it completely.

Conventionally, they can be divided into two groups: funny and similar to the truth, and those that make the hair on end not only of physicists. The official website of the society and unofficial forums of followers in English, Russian and other languages ​​are teeming with evidence. We've selected a few of the most egregious ones, but we're not sure if everyone on this list is part of the official theory and not just fan speculation.

1. If the Earth were not flat, then taking off along a certain trajectory, planes would rise higher and higher above the Earth and eventually fall into space. The most amazing thing about this theory is that, according to society, all pilots are in cahoots with NASA and the company. However, that is not why conspiracy theories exist to provide logical arguments.
2. If the Earth were round, bridges would be built to adjust for bending (in fact, long bridges are built to adjust for it, but most bridges, because of their small sizes this is simply not necessary).
3. The earth cannot be round because the horizon is always level and at eye level. On a round planet it should always be below eye level (presumably due to the rounding).
4. There are places on the planet, for example, the city of Genoa in Italy, from which in good weather you can see islands at a distance of 80–125 miles (130–200 km), which, according to society, is impossible in a round Earth.
5. On routes between southern Africa and South America or southern countries Oceania and Africa, planes usually fly very north, in big cities and from them - again to the south, which is completely illogical from the point of view of the globe, but fits perfectly into the theory of a flat Earth (and to hell with economic considerations and features of the relief and climate).
6. If the Sun were as far from the Earth as astronomers say, then the hot climatic conditions in which most of the African continent is located, and the extremely cold Antarctica next door, would be impossible. After all, from the Sahara to Antarctica is a stone’s throw by planetary standards, and the temperatures there are completely different.
7. If the Earth were an ellipsoid, then the North and South Poles would have similar temperature regimes, the seasons would change in the same way, there would be a similar solar cycle, the flora and fauna would be more similar to each other. In fact, the average annual temperature at the South Pole is -50 degrees Celsius, at the North Pole - -15 degrees Celsius. In summer it’s even relatively “warm” by the standards of one of the coldest places on Earth. According to society, this is all because the North Pole is in the center of the planet and receives much more sun. And the ice and permafrost encircling our flat planet, according to a conspiracy of scientists, are passed off as the South Pole.
8. There is no fixed most “western,” “eastern,” or “southern” point on the planet. There is only the northern one - at the pole. This is all because there is no west, east and south, and “north” is located strictly in the center of the planet.
9. Magellan did not prove that the Earth is round, because, according to his description of the route, it is very difficult to travel on a round Earth, moving straight all the time, and return to one point. But on a flat plane it’s easy. It's just a circle around the North Pole!
10. It's not just because of the blocks of ice that you can't fall off the edge of the Earth. Between the earth and the sky lies the event horizon, so to someone watching a person on the edge of the flat earth, it will seem as if he has been standing there forever. In general, this place is a space-time anomaly where physical laws do not work or work differently.

How to join the community

If you are impressed by these arguments and would like to take part in a lively discussion about the shape of the Earth, this can easily be done on the Internet. Dozens of forums are returned by search engines for the query “Flat Earth Society.”

On the official website of the society in this moment there are 555 associate members (for comparison: the organization’s Facebook page has more than 50,000 followers, and 4,000 on Twitter). To become one of them, you need to leave a request on the website (by this link), it's free. The second option is to become a friend of the society, and "friendship" will cost $12. After successful registration and payment of the “friendly” commission, you will be sent by regular mail an identification card, a certificate signed personally by the president of the organization, and a bag of all sorts of branded joy - stickers, refrigerator magnets, etc.

So is it really flat?

Video blogger Vsauce, who regularly dives into such depths of science that not every video of his can be understood at first viewing, wondered what would happen if our planet really were flat. What would happen to gravity, to objects that fell on the edge of the Earth or were close to it, and why, in the end, from the point of view of physics, the existence of a flat planet is impossible - look in his video.

However, for the average member of the Flat Earth Society, the phrase that in space conditions no large physical object can not be a ball is an empty phrase, since the society denies both all cosmic theories and gravity. If we take as a basis the idea that the Earth is a big pancake that moves upward at a speed of 9.8 m/s, then we can assume that our entire existence will end at the moment when our giant pancake crashes into another one at full speed pancake, which may well move at a different speed. And then our whole wonderful, cloudless life will end in one big “wake.” Between us lie tiny stars and the hot ball of the Sun. No giant meteorites and Bruce Willis on a rescue mission, no romance. Burns, suffocation and crushing. It seems that fans of the flat Earth theory should show themselves in cinema.

What is the actual shape of the Earth? Is the earth a flat circle or a sphere? Does the South Pole exist? Such questions have been asked for many years not only simple people, but also famous scientists and people. There is no exact evidence that the Earth is spherical, so people will look for evidence until the whole hidden truth prevails.

People have a lot of questions regarding the flat earth theory. People want to find the answer: Is the earth round or flat? In any case, the Flat Earth is round, not spherical. The earth, according to the evidence of flat earthers, is round and flat in the shape of a disk or saucer.

Wolves in sheep's clothing have covered our eyes with wool. For almost 500 years, the masses of people were completely deceived by the cosmic tale of astronomical dimensions. We have been taught lies on such a scale and so cruelly that we have become blind to our own experience and common sense to see the world and the universe as it is. With the help of pseudoscientific books and programs, the media and public education, universities and government propaganda, the world has been constantly brainwashed and slowly instilled over the centuries with absolute faith in the great lie of all times. “Geography textbooks teach children, when they are still too small to understand these things correctly, that the world is a huge ball revolving around the Sun. And this story is constantly repeated, year after year, until the children become adults, at which time they are so busy with other things that it no longer matters to them whether the teaching was true or false. And since they have not heard anyone refute this, they conclude that it must be true, and if not believe it, then at least accept it as a fact. Thus they tacitly assent to a theory which they would have rejected out of hand had it been originally presented to them during what we call the "years of prudence." The consequences of the devil's teaching, whether in religion or science, are much more disastrous than one might imagine, especially in a luxurious age of indulgence like ours. The mind becomes weak and consciousness becomes dry.”

Evidence for the flat earth theory

500 years ago, an elite group of Sun-worshipping cabals disseminated a nihilistic cosmology/cosmogony that the vast majority of the world unquestioningly believes in. We have been taught, against all common sense and experience, that the apparently motionless, flat Earth beneath our feet is in fact a huge moving ball, spinning through space at over 1,000 mph (1,609 km/h), rocking and tilting at 23.5 degrees off its vertical axis, while spinning around the sun at a blinding speed of 67,000 mph (107,826 km/h), interacting with the entire solar system spiraling around the Milky Way at 500,000 mph (804670 km/h), and rushing through the expanding Universe away from the “Big Bang” at an incredible speed of 670,000,000 miles per hour (1078257800 km/h). But you don’t feel or experience any of this! We were taught that the mysterious force called "gravity" is a magical magnetism responsible for keeping everything from falling and supporting the spinning globe, which is strong enough to keep people, oceans and the atmosphere so firmly on the surface, but so weak that it allows insects , it's easy for birds and planes to take off! “As we sit drinking our cup of tea or coffee, the world is supposedly spinning at great speed and there is not even a hint of ripple in our tea until you lightly tap the table with your finger and...!”

“I confess that I cannot imagine how any person in his right mind can believe that the Sun is motionless when he sees with his own eyes that it revolves around the heavens. But how can he believe that the Earth on which we stand rotates at the speed of lightning around the Sun when he does not feel the slightest movement?

We were taught that those tiny pinprick points of light in the night sky known as planets or wandering stars were actually physical, spherical, Earth-like abodes millions of miles away. We were even shown a video of supposedly one of these objects, called Mars. We were taught that the tiny pinprick points of light in the night sky known as the fixed stars were actually suns trillions of miles away, each with its own solar system, rotating moons, and Earth-like planets that are a potential haven for alien life. We have been taught that the Moon has no light of its own, that its light is simply a reflection of the light of the Sun; that some Masons from NASA walked on the Moon, that some other Masons from NASA sent an all-terrain vehicle to Mars; that satellites and space stations continuously circle in a certain position, suspended above the Earth; that Hubble telescopes take pictures of distant planets, galaxies, stars, quasars, black holes, warm holes and other fantastic celestial phenomena. We have been taught that our ignorant ancient ancestors wrongly believed for millennia that the Earth was the flat, stationary center of the universe, but thanks to modern "science" and its Masonic prophets such as Copernicus, Newton, Galileo, Collins, Eldrin and Armstrong, we now believe that the world is a huge rotating ball, covered with land and seas, rushing through endless space.

We were taught that over millions and millions of random "evolutions" and a random Big Bang, the universe began to manifest suns, planets, then water, then somehow single-celled organisms arose from dead, inactive elements, they grew and multiplied, and mutated into large, diverse organisms that continued to grow and multiply and mutate, gaining diversity and complexity (losing plausibility) to the point where amphibians came onto land, replaced gills with lungs, began to breathe air, developed into mammals, became bipedal, grew fingers , evolved into apes, and then, by a stroke of luck, a man-ape hybrid was created, and human history began.

We were taught that it was the height of stupidity and naivety that our ignorant ancestors believed that the Earth was flat, and that if any person somehow still thinks that the Earth is the fixed center of the universe, then he must be the most primitive ignoramus. By now, the "Flat Earth" tag has become a literary synonym for "dorky" and a common cliché derogatory term for insulting someone's intelligence.

“I remember that when I was a little boy I was taught that the Earth was a large ball revolving at great speed around the Sun; and when I expressed to the teacher my fears that the water in the ocean might overflow, I was told that the waters are protected from this by Newton's Law of Gravity, which keeps everything in the right place. I suggested that my face must have shown some signs of disbelief, and my teacher immediately added - I can show you direct evidence of this. A person can spin a bucket filled with water around his head without spilling it, and in the same way, oceans can revolve around the sun without losing a drop. This example was obviously given to exhaust the question, and then I replied that there were no more questions. One might assume that if this had happened after I had grown up, I would have responded as an adult: “Sir, I dare say that the example of a man spinning a bucket of water around his head and oceans revolving around the sun is no do not support your arguments, because the water in the two cases is placed in completely different conditions, since they are different in volume. For an argument to be valid, the conditions must be the same in both cases, and in this example they are not the same. A bucket is a hollow vessel that holds water inside, while, according to your teaching, the Earth is a sphere that is convex on the outside, and, according to the laws of nature, cannot hold any water." Source: VKontakte group "Flat Earth | ISLAM"

“(Aren’t they looking) at the Earth and how it is spread out?” (Quran, 88:20). His words “spread out” obviously (prove) that the Earth is flat, on which the scholars of Sharia stand, and not spherical, as people who judge by appearance(i.e. according to the shape of the Earth's shadow on the Moon)

Flat Earth Map

All routes are determined by a FLAT EARTH MAP, not a spherical one... it does not take into account the movements of the Earth on its 1674.365 km/h axis and around its orbit, because the Earth does not move, on the contrary, the sun moves in circular motions above the flat Earth.

Video: How planes actually fly over a flat Earth

What does a Flat Earth look like?

Flat Earth Map

The earth is round and flat at the same time

The flat surface of the Earth, and above the ground there is a Dome that no one can overcome!

Flat Earth facts

Is there a so-called “South Pole”?

There is not a single photograph of the South Pole, but photographs of the planet “Mars” and other “false planets” exist, and from all sides. But this is just photoshop, these and other planets do not exist... space does not exist either. The stars are under the Dome and in reality they are not big size. But at first it’s hard to believe, because we’ve been deceived since school. If they take photos of Mars and Saturn, then it wouldn’t be difficult to take photos of the Earth... But there is not one original photograph of the south pole and the supposedly spherical Earth.

If the earth is spherical, then why does the compass show the direction of Mecca in a different direction? The South Pole does not exist. This can be proven by the fact that the compass needle always points north. Even if a person is located beyond the equator, at the point closest to the “south pole,” it still points to the north, although it would be logical for it to point to the south, since there is also a magnetic pole there.

Flat Earth Dome

In 1773, Captain Cook became the first modern explorer to sail across the Arctic Circle and reach the ice barrier. Over the course of three voyages, lasting a total of 3 years, Captain Cook and his crew sailed a total of 110,000 km along the Antarctic coast without ever finding an entrance or way through the massive ice wall!
“Yes, but we can go around the South Pole quite easily” - often said by those who do not know, the British ship Challenger, which sailed for 3 years “around” the South Pole and sailed 69,000 miles (approx. 130,000 km) - a sufficient distance to go around the South Pole 6 times, according to the spherical hypothesis. Now no one is allowed to go to Antarctica, this is controlled by the Antarctic Treaty, there are many people (climbers, etc.) with money, opportunities, etc., who have been waiting for years for permission to go there, but in vain.

I am surprised when some ignorant Muslims say, for example, that Islam is the youngest religion or that the Earth is spherical, while Islam is the oldest and only religion that comes from the Creator of the universe (all worlds), life and people, and Planet Earth is actually flat and round, not spherical.

Previously, once upon a time, “scientific” scientists believed that the Universe was infinite and unlimited! And now it is known that “science” was wrong and it has become clear that in fact the universe is limited! Should we believe “scientific” theories? We cannot believe in ASSUMPTIONS! And only the Creator, the Lord of all worlds, One Allah, is not limited by anything, He is Eternal without beginning and without end, Perfect, Wise.

Which Earth is flat or spherical?

What should lead to conviction? - Not blind adherence, but categorical texts of the Koran, hadiths in which there is not the slightest doubt or disagreement, and evidence that is felt in reality, which a person is able to verify... And in those places where it is quite difficult to verify, they lie. Allah Almighty, the Creator of all worlds, says in the Quran:

Say: “Truth has appeared and falsehood has disappeared. Truly, lies are doomed to destruction.”

Truth is the revelations that Allah revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and commanded him to preach openly. The truth was revealed to him, which cannot be resisted, and therefore the lie disappeared and disappeared. And it couldn’t be otherwise, because lies are doomed to death and disappearance. Of course, sometimes lies gain strength and spread. However, this happens only when the truth does not oppose it. But as soon as the truth appears, the lie becomes silent and does not even dare to move. That is why erroneous views spread only in those countries where people forget the clear signs of their Lord.

Most people believe that the earth is round. But, as they say in the Quran, the majority are ignorant, and the minority is on the right path.

إذا نصحت أحداً فقال لك :
When you are giving instructions to someone, and he tells you:

أكثر الناس يفعلون هذا !
Most people do this:

فقل له:
Then you tell him:

لو ﺑﺤﺜﺖ ﻋﻦ ﻛﻠﻤﺔ «ﺃﻛﺜﺮ ﺍﻟﻨﺎﺱ » ﻓﻲ ﺍﻟﻘﺮﺁﻥ
الكريم ﻟﻮﺟﺪﺕ ﺑﻌﺪﻫﺎ:
If you look for the word "most people" in the Holy Qur'an, you will find after it:

(ﻻ‌‌‌ ﻳﻌﻠﻤﻮﻥ — ﻻ‌‌‌ ﻳﺸﻜﺮﻭﻥ — ﻻ‌‌‌ ﻳﺆﻣﻨﻮﻥ) !
"DON'T KNOW"
"NOT GRATEFUL"
“THEY DID NOT BELIEVE.”

ﻭﻟﻮ ﺑﺤﺜﺖ ﻋﻦ ﻛﻠﻤﺔ «ﺃﻛﺜﺮﻫﻢ »
ﻟﻮﺟﺪﺕ بعدها:
If you search in the Holy Qur'an for the word "most of them" you will find after it:
(ﻓﺎﺳﻘﻮﻥ — ﻳﺠﻬﻠﻮﻥ — ﻣﻌﺮﺿﻮﻥ —
ﻻ‌‌‌ ﻳﻌﻘﻠﻮﻥ — ﻻ‌‌‌ ﻳﺴﻤﻌﻮﻥ) !
"SINNERS"
"IGNORANTS"
"TURN AWAY"
"DO NOT UNDERSTAND",
"DON'T LISTEN"!

فكن أﻧﺖ ﻣﻦ ﺍﻟﻘﻠﻴﻞ ﺍﻟﺬﻳﻦ ﻗﺎﻝ ﺍﻟﻠﻪ ﺗﻌﺎﻟﻰ ﻓﻴﻬﻢ :
And you be from the small number of whom the Almighty said:
{ ﻭﻗﻠﻴﻞ ﻣﻦ ﻋﺒﺎﺩﻱ ﺍﻟﺸﻜﻮﺭ }.
"FEW OF MY SLAVES ARE GRATEFUL"

{ ﻭﻣﺎ ﺁﻣﻦ ﻣﻌﻪ ﺇﻻ‌‌‌ ﻗﻠﻴﻞ }.
"NOT BELIEVE WITH HIM EXCEPT A SMALL NUMBER"

{ ﺛﻠﺔ ﻣﻦ ﺍﻷ‌‌‌ﻭﻟﻴﻦ ﻭﻗﻠﻴﻞ ﻣﻦ ﺍﻵ‌‌‌ﺧﺮﻳﻦ }.
“A GROUP OF THE FIRST, AND A LITTLE OF THE LATER.”!

Description of the Earth in the Koran

Here is a list of Quranic verses describing the shape of the earth:

• (13:3) He is the one who spread out (Madda) the earth.
• (15:19) And We spread out the earth (Madadnaha).
• (20:53) He who made the earth a plain (Mahdan) for you.
• (2:22) who made the earth a carpet for you (Firasha).
• (43:10) who made the earth a cradle for you (Mahdan)
• (50:7) And We spread out the earth (Madadnaha)
• (51:48) And We spread the earth (Farashnaha)
• (71:19) Allah has made the earth a bedding (Bisata) for you.
• (78:6) Have We not made the earth a bed (Mihada)
• (88:20) and to the earth as it is spread out (Sutehat).
• (91:6) and the earth and what spread it (Tahaha)

📗 The Quran describes the shape of the earth in the following words:
Madda, Madadnaha, Firasha, Mahdan, Farashnaha, Bisata, Mihada, Tahaha and Sutehat.

Each one means "FLAT". It is clear that the Almighty Creator wanted to tell people in the Quran that the Earth is flat, and He used all the available Arabic vocabulary to convey this idea.

Allah said:

وَيَوْمَ نُسَيِّرُ الْجِبَالَ وَتَرَى الْأَرْضَ بَارِزَةً وَحَشَرْنَاهُمْ فَلَمْ نُغَادِرْ مِنْهُمْ أَحَدًا

“On that Day We will make the mountains move, and you will see that the earth will become flat. We will collect them all and not leave anyone out” / QURAN SURAH “THE CAVE”

In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful!

Science says that the change of day and night occurs as a result of the movement of the earth around the sun. At the same time, being on the surface of the Earth, we do not feel the movement of the globe, but can only observe it based on the apparent movement of the sun and stars relative to the Earth.

Sheikh Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) says: “The Quran and the Sunnah prove that in fact, what rotates relative to the earth is the sun. Allah says in the Quran:

“And the sun flows to its abode. This is the decree of the Glorious, the Wise!” 36:38.

He said “swimming” and attributed “swimming” to the sun. Said:

“And you see how the sun, when it rose, turned away from their cave to the right, and when it set, it passed them to the left.” 18:17.

Here it is clear that Allah attributed all four verbs to the sun, and some theories force us to distort the verse from its obvious meaning to another. Whereas these theories are a figment of the imagination.

Allah Almighty says:

• “I did not make them witnesses of the creation of the heavens and the earth and the creation of themselves.” 18:51.
• And man is not given more than a little from the sciences. A person who does not know the essence of his soul, “They ask you about (the essence of) the Spirit. Say: “The spirit is from the command of my Master. And your knowledge of what is given to you is scant!” 17:85.
• How does he try to understand a universe that is greater than his creation? “The creation of heaven and earth is greater than the creation of people, but most people do not know!” 40:57.

We declare that the theory that the change of day and night occurs due to the rotation of the earth around the sun is erroneous because it contradicts the superficial meaning of the Qur'an, which is the word of the Creator Subhanahu wa Taala. And He is more knowledgeable in His creations. How will we distort the words of our Lord from the superficial meaning, due to the existence of theories, when the scientists themselves have differences in these matters. The opinion that the earth is motionless and the sun revolves around it still exists today. Allah Almighty says in the Koran that the night twists around the day and the day twists around the night, that is, they rotate. If this is so, then where does day and night come from, except from the sun? Not from where. This proves that it is the sun that revolves around the earth...”

Allah Almighty said: A sign for them is the night, which We separate from the day, and so they plunge into darkness. The sun floats to its abode. Thus the Mighty, the Knowing has ordained. We have predetermined positions for the moon until it again becomes like an old palm branch. The sun does not have to catch up with the moon, and the night does not run ahead of the day. Everyone floats in orbit. Surah Yasin Verses 37-40

Today, what we are told in schools and everywhere is the absolute “Truth” for us. Many Muslims try to adapt the verses of the Koran to science, clearly distorting their meaning. And about those verses that cannot be adjusted to Science, they are kept silent about them. For example, the verse above explains to us the signs of Allah about the movement of the sun and moon around the earth, resulting in the change of day and night.

• The Almighty said: He is the One who gave the sun radiance and the moon light. Surah Yunus, verse 5
• The Almighty said: “...made the moon bright, and made the sun a lamp” Sura 71, Ayat 16

In other words, the Sun is a luminary emitting light, responsible for day, which replaces night. The moon is naturally bright regardless of the sun; it is responsible for the night and replaces the day. Write in the comments what you think about this.

It is hardly possible to fully reveal the incomprehensible secrets of the universe. And even what at first glance seems to be an immutable truth, in some cases can turn out to be very controversial. for the sake of political, economic and moral-ethical interests no longer causes such surprise, because the concept of alternative history is gaining more and more adherents every day. And even those who recently believed in fairy tales about the existence of Peter I, today are no longer so confident in supporting their beliefs.

What if it's not just history that's distorted? Modern geography, geodesy and other sciences have elevated the idea that the Earth is round to the rank of an axiom, however, this theory also has its opponents. At first glance, the idea of ​​a flat Earth can be perceived as a joke, but its adherents are citing more and more convincing evidence in favor of their theory, which look quite logical and reasonable. Is this so, or is science not lying in this case? Who knows…

Flat Earth Theory: Basic Concepts

The essence of this theory is revealed by its very name. According to the assumptions of flat-earthers, the globe is a round disk, the center of which is the North Pole. But in principle, the South Pole is not on this map - instead of it there is a high ice wall that encircles the territory of the Earth. What is behind this wall is a mystery. Some suggest that behind it there is only ice and permafrost, others believe that there is a parallel life of other inhabitants of the planet hidden there, and still others believe that the wall serves as a fence behind which there is absolutely nothing. A map that clearly reflects the structure of a flat Earth is called an azimuthal map.

The diameter of the planet is 40,000 kilometers. Above this huge disk, like a dome, rise the constellations, the Sun and the Moon. And so that the day goes on as usual, and day gives way to night, it is not the planet itself that rotates, but the dome located directly above it. That is why the constellations move during the night, the bright sun is replaced by a mysterious and cold moon, and sunrise and sunset regularly alternate.

And since the Sun is constantly moving, the usual ideas about the solar system have no right to exist. In the Flat Earth concept solar system in principle, is not considered, since the rotation of the Sun is carried out at a breakneck speed, and the planets simply could not fly behind it and rotate around their own axis. The gravitational force of the planets also serves as a weighty argument. According to modern scientists, the Earth ranks third among the planets located around the Sun. But according to the laws of physics, the force of attraction is directly related to mass, which means smaller size planet, the closer it should be to the Sun. After carrying out simple mathematical calculations, you can understand that the Earth should be not in third, but in sixth place. Then our world would be shrouded in permafrost, because the atmosphere simply physically would not be able to warm up enough to comfortably support life.

But if everything works exactly as the adherents of the Flat Earth theory see it, what about space flights, numerous photographs of the Earth taken from outer space, data about other planets and other information that clearly demonstrates the structure of the universe. According to flat-earthers, all this is nothing more than a fiction, a staged act, and a deception on a huge scale. The illusion created by the Freemasons makes it possible to hide the truth from the population. One of the proofs of this assumption is a photograph of Apollo 11, in which the Americans allegedly flew to the Moon. On closer magnification you can see that spaceship made of “available materials” - foil, planks, oilcloth, cardboard, etc. In fact, this is just a set designed for filming the astronauts, who, by the way, did not even bother to take off their jewelry (bracelets and rings), on which the engraved letter G can be seen inside a compass and square - a symbol of the Masonic movement.

What about pictures of Mars? The unreal and mysterious beauty of this mysterious planet according to adherents of the Flat Earth theory, they are nothing more than photo filters, a play of light and shadows, classical computer programs that any “advanced” schoolchild can work with. If you remove the Photoshop effects from these pictures, you will get very beautiful, but still very real landscapes, taken in remote corners of the Earth, untouched by human hands.

A little history, or Where does the flat Earth theory come from?

At first glance, it may seem that the theory about the flat shape of our planet is nothing more than a fashionable trend, of which there are now many on the Internet. However, this is not at all true: looking through the prism of history, you can track how opinions about the shape of the Earth have changed. This theory was mentioned in ancient mythology Egypt and Babylon, Hindu and Buddhist scriptures, Scandinavian epic. And even the ancient philosophers, whose teachings are considered historical heritage, including Leucippus and his student Democritus, were firmly convinced that the Earth was flat. The same idea was adhered to in the oldest manuscript of the Book of Enoch, found at Qumran. However, over time, these beliefs gave way to astronomical knowledge, and the idea of ​​a Flat Earth fell into oblivion.

In the Middle Ages, the question of the shape of the Earth again became debated. One of the striking examples of this idea was “Christian Topography”, written by Cosmas Indicopleus in 535-547. In it, the planet is presented in the form of a rectangular plane, on top of which there is a dome: “Some people, hiding behind the name of Christians, claim, along with pagan philosophers, that the Sky has a spherical shape. No doubt these people are deceived by the eclipses of the Sun and Moon." This work, translated, became widespread in Rus', because at that time it was a unique encyclopedia of medieval knowledge, which there was no reason not to believe.

One of illustrative examples The theory was based on an engraving published in the book Atmosphere: Popular Meteorology, published by the French astronomer Camille Flammarion in 1888. It depicts a pilgrim who has reached the edge of the Earth and looks out from under the dome towards new worlds. The caption for the image reads: “A medieval missionary says he found the point where the sky touches the Earth.”

How did the Flat Earth Society come about?

In the 19th century, adherents of the described concept united into a group - the Flat Earth Society - headed by the English scientist Samuel Rowbotham. For several decades, he conducted all kinds of experiments, experiments, and studies to confirm his theory and, importantly, found a lot of evidence. Using the pseudonym Parallax, he wrote “Zetetic Astronomy”, in which he thoroughly and clearly outlined all his findings and results refuting the spherical shape of the planet. Rowbotham's initially small work was reprinted several times, becoming increasingly large-scale and evidence-based literature, because it was constantly supplemented by students of the Society. Until his death, Samuel Rowbotham defended his theory, giving numerous lectures and seminars around the world.

Adherents of Rowbotham's theory subsequently united into the Universal Zetetic Society, which found its adherents in all corners of the planet. Since 1956, this organization, led by Samuel Shenton, again became known as the Flat Earth Society, but with the significant prefix “International”. When Shenton saw the photographs Globe from orbit, he did not doubt his convictions for a moment: “It is easy to see how photographs of this kind can fool an ignorant person.”

Since 1971, the head of the organization has been Charles Johnson. He launched a major campaign to promote his ideas, distributing leaflets, publishing brochures and booklets in which he advocated the flat Earth model. Thanks to such activity, during his leadership the number of supporters of the theory increased several times.

Arguments for the Flat Earth Theory

To make an informed decision about the shape of our planet, you need to consider the arguments on both sides to see which makes the most sense and consistency. So, what do flat earthers say about their theory?

1.Earth's rotation speed.

Scientific data says that the Earth rotates around its axis at a speed of about half a kilometer per second. It’s hard to even imagine such a fast object! There are a few simple experiments in favor of flat-earthers, such as jumping. Everyone knows that when a person jumps, he lands in the same place. But what about rotation? After all, in those split seconds that he was in the jump, the planet had to move a considerable distance, and the landing site would have become another point. The same result is obtained by firing a cannon into the sky. In addition, if you shoot to the east (against the direction of rotation), the cannonball should fly half as far as normal, and if you shoot to the west, twice as much. However, this does not happen. And pilots flying over the Earth have never recorded how it rotates, although who, if not them, should be able to see the change in the position of the planet from above.

2.Perfectly flat horizon.

Look into the distance. Take a good look, not losing sight of the slightest detail. What do you see? The ideally smooth edge of the horizon in the area where it is clearly visible - fields, meadows, sea surface - cannot deceive. After all, in a free area the view spans several kilometers in the distance, so why are they perfectly level? According to adherents of the theory, the answer is obvious - the Earth is flat! In addition, tall objects (for example, towers, lighthouses, mountain peaks) would simply not be visible, because the spherical surface would hide them from an attentive eye, since the horizon line would be significantly higher. But this does not happen, and you can admire the mountains from a very long distance, amounting to more than one kilometer.

3.Air travel routes.

Many flights, especially long-distance ones, at first glance seem illogical from the point of view of the spherical shape of the Earth. Looking at the globe, one might wonder why pilots choose such a seemingly illogical route and inconvenient refueling points. However, there is no mystery or irrationalism in this: if you compare these routes with a flat map, it becomes clear that the route is laid out perfectly.

4. Star drawing.

If all objects in the Universe are in constant motion, then why are the stars in the sky located exactly the same both today and several centuries ago? After all, in theory, the star pattern should change, if not every day, then certainly once a week. However, this does not happen. The thing is that stars are just holograms on the celestial dome, which cannot change, move relative to each other, much less fall. And the famous meteor shower, which all the romantics of the world eagerly await to make a wish, is a holographic effect.

5. Yellow Sun.

Scientific laws explain in some detail why the sky is blue and the Sun is yellow. According to official data, ultraviolet light, passing through the atmosphere, is scattered into spectra, one of which colors the sky. However, this does not explain in any way why some of the rays concentrated around the Sun do not decay, because then it should be blue-blue. Isn't it the case that the Sun is below the dome-sky, which limits space. Rotating around the Earth, it alternately illuminates the territory, so the light hours regularly replace each other.

6. Space flight is a hoax.

None of the flat-earthers have seen outer space with their own eyes, which means that one can argue its existence until one is hoarse. The photographs are fake, the videos are all special effects, and the space flights are fantastic stories. Convinced adherents of this theory even organized several investigative expeditions to search for photographic sites “on the Moon.” And when the astronauts were asked to swear on the Holy Scriptures that they had been on the Moon, they all showed aggression and avoided answering.

7. Free flow of rivers.

According to the law of communicating vessels, the network of reservoirs enveloping the Earth simply could not exist on a spherical planet in the form in which we see it today. However, the rivers flow to the west, east, north and south in almost equal quantities, and their depth and fullness are in no way related to geographical location. Such characteristics are only possible if the Earth is flat.

8. Technicians' view.

One of the weighty arguments in favor of their theory is the universal conspiracy of engineers, technicians and other individuals who are in one way or another connected with work in vast spaces. For example, surveyors do not take into account the curvature of the Earth when designing buildings and structures. But in this case, the structure made according to this project simply could not withstand the total load and collapsed. However, this does not happen, and the buildings have stood idle for decades. There is only one conclusion: they know that the Earth is actually flat, but they keep this secret from the population. The same applies to airplane pilots who, taking off from a spherical surface, no longer adjust their flight path until landing. How? After all, under such conditions the plane would have flown into open space. And if you look at it from the point of view of a flat Earth, everything falls into place.

This evidence is the most common that the Flat Earth Society uses to refute the generally accepted theory. To judge their loyalty, it is necessary to consider the beliefs of the so-called “Sharovie believers” who adhere to scientific point vision.

Why is the Earth a ball? Arguments against a flat earth

The concept that the scientific community adheres to has many justifications in its favor, some of which look quite convincing. What do the Sharover believers talk about in support of their theory?

1. The moon and its eclipse.

Even if we do not take into account photographs that prove the existence of the Moon as a satellite of our planet, the shadow cast by the Earth, gradually reaching a lunar eclipse, directly indicates its sphericity. Even Aristotle, who supported the spherical nature of the planet, considered the cast shadow as an oval, which directly contradicted the theory that the Earth was flat.

2.Change of constellations.

This argument has also been considered since the time of Aristotle. Traveling around the world, he recorded the position of the stars in the sky and the visibility of each of them. So, being at the equator, constellations were revealed to him that were not visible at other latitudes. And the further the scientist was from the equator, the fewer familiar stars he saw, which were replaced by others. This effect could only be explained by the fact that a person is looking at the sky from a spherical surface, otherwise the location would not have such a strong effect on the visibility of the stars.

3.Time Zones.

And although Polskozemeltsy claim that the change of time of day occurs due to the rotation of the Sun, sharovers are sure that it is the Earth that rotates around its axis. That is why in different countries installed different time, and when, for example, it is deep night in America, the sun is shining in China, and the day is in full swing.

4. Force of gravity.

Another proof of a spherical planet is gravity - the force of attraction between objects. According to the laws of physics, it acts relative to the center of mass. But when an apple falls, it lands from top to bottom, and not at an angle to the center, and a person, walking on the surface of the Earth, feels an attraction to the bottom, and not to the side, closer to the center of the “disk”. That is why we can judge that under it every time there is the center of the Earth, from which maximum gravity comes, and this means that the Earth has a spherical shape. However, flat-earthers reject this evidence, because they believe that gravity is just the result of the planet moving upward with an acceleration of 9.8 m/s2.

5.Visibility of objects from above.

If you climb a mountain, a tall tree or a lighthouse, looking at the horizon through binoculars, you will notice that the visibility distance increases in direct proportion to the height at which a person is located. Of course, visible obstacles can interfere with the purity of the experiment, but in a field or meadow this effect is most noticeable. But if the Earth were flat, the height of the observation deck would have no effect on the visibility of objects on the horizon. This is only possible if the planet is spherical.

6. Ship on the horizon.

When sailing, the ship does not immediately disappear on a perfectly flat surface of the sea. First of all, its hull is lost from sight, and only after that the sails disappear behind the horizon. The same thing is observed when it approaches the shore: the sails are immediately visible, and only then the ship itself. This directly proves that, despite the apparent straightness of the horizon, it is curved by the spherical shape of the Earth.

7.Sundial.

The sundial effect is calculated based on the shadow cast by the Sun at different times. By sticking a stick into the ground, you can observe how its shadow gradually changes its shape. And if the world were a plane, the position of the stick would not affect the shape of the shadow, and at different points it would be identical. However, even a seemingly insignificant distance of several tens of kilometers between two experimental rods gives different results, and the shadows differ from each other by at least a few tenths of a millimeter. This principle was used even before our era when calculating the circumference of the Earth, which was carried out by Eratosthenes.

8. Documentary facts.

And although flat-earthers claim that photographs from satellites and space flights are a hoax, sharers are firmly convinced of their existence. Numerous photographs of our planet obtained from outer space, flights to the Moon and exploration of other planets are a scientific heritage that humanity has achieved over hundreds of years of experimentation and development. True, considerable funds are invested in these studies, and their effectiveness is confirmed only by photographs, but this is the other side of the coin.

Flat Earth in the context of contemporary art

No matter how controversial the theory that denies the generally accepted shape of our planet may be, it has repeatedly surfaced in the works of science fiction writers, film directors and writers. It is enough to recall the well-known “Chronicles of Narnia” by Clive Lewis to understand that this idea attracts a wide audience. Narnia cosmology presents the idea of ​​the plane of the Earth, beyond the boundaries of which there is paradise - Aslan. The heroes go there, following the routes of an ancient map reminiscent of a medieval one.

The English science fiction writer Terry Pratchett devoted a whole series of works to the concept with the predictable title Discworld. In his opinion, based on ancient Indian myths, the disc-shaped planet is supported by four elephants, and they, in turn, stand on a centuries-old turtle. And what about Pirates of the Caribbean, beloved by millions of spectators? Captain Jack Sparrow's team was able to reach the end of the planet, where a bottomless waterfall seethed.

Domestic writers did not ignore this concept either. Thus, the story “Monk at the End of the Earth” by Sergei Sinyak describes an expedition to the heavenly dome, after which its participants were subjected to repression by the state. However, the results of the expedition were undeniable: space flight is nothing more than a fiction based on a distortion of the picture of the universe.

Afterword

What to believe in, what concept to adhere to is everyone’s personal choice. It is more convenient for some to believe that the Earth is a ball, while others are also unshakably convinced that our planet is flat. One way or another, going up into space to clearly verify the correctness of one of these movements is not possible for most people, so we will have to use what we have - our eyes, logic and common sense. It is enough to close the textbooks, open satellite map and drive along it for a considerable distance, checking the mileage and trajectory with official data. Simple practical experiments will allow you to understand where reality ends and hoax begins.

It is best to end this debate with the words of the wise Dalai Lama: “In any case, all this is very insignificant, isn’t it? The basis of the Teaching is; what they say about the structure of life, about the nature of suffering, about the nature of the mind. These are the basics of the teaching. This is what is most important; something that is directly related to our lives. Is the world square or round? special significance as long as prosperity and peace reign in it.”