Gobsmacked by Flat Earth Theory – Reflections upon just 2 months of flat earth debunking
INTRODUCTION
I have been
actively engaged in debunking flat earth theory arguments for the last couple
of months. At this point, we are only 3 days away from the Flat Earth
International Conference https://fe2017.com/ FEIC 2017 to be held in Raleigh North
Carolina. The precise location is 201 Harrison Oaks Blvd, Cary, NC at 35.833,
-78.772 on the spherical earth map but at a TBD (to be determined) location on
the flat earth map. And a trivial point of curiosity is that it happens to be
exactly 43.2 miles or 66.6 km, sorry just kidding, 69.5 km (great-circle
distance) from Hightowers, North Carolina (36.327, -79.244 on the spherical
earth map).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hightowers,_North_Carolina
Are we really
on the path to the total destruction of the globular earth as so many have come
to know and love for so long? In just a few days? I offer some reflections. But
first,
GOBSMACKED
Two nights
ago I was doing some calculations on this flat earth theory stuff, and I was
gob-smacked by the results I got. It showed how obviously ridiculous some of
the claims of the flat earth advocates have been. So I have got to share that
with you. I am sure I am not the first to have discovered this, but since I had
never actually done these exact calculations before, I was surprised to
discover how far off from reality some major flat earth promulgations have been.
I was gobsmacked.
THE
IMMOVABLE BM THAT JUST WON’T FLUSH
I discovered
that on the equinox on the flat earth model, from anywhere on the equator the
sun will rise exactly in the north-east, and at sunrise it will appear at an
angle of 35 degrees up from the horizontal. (On the spherical earth in this
case the sun rises exactly east and on the horizon.) Furthermore, from either
the north pole or the southern ring the sun will appear at an angle of 45
degrees up from the horizontal. (This is clearly not what is seen from the
poles on the spherical earth.) Again, I was gobsmacked. Later in this post I
will present the details of how these things were determined, after I give my
reflections on my two months of opposition to the flat earth movement, the immovable
BM that just won’t flush.
REFLECTIONS
When I first
started listening to the current flat earth advocacy movement about one and one
half years ago, I have to admit that I was taken in by some of the arguments,
even though there were some arguments that seemed immediately and clearly false
to me (like the gravity is just buoyancy and density argument), and since I
have been a student of conspiracy theories for many years, and many advocating
this flat earth theory were also students of conspiracy theories with whom I
would probably agree on many things, I kind of wanted the flat earth theory to
be true, and was kind of rooting for them at first.
But once I
started to do some of my own really serious research a little over two months
ago and discovered that there were some truly fatal problems with flat earth
theory as it was being promulgated, and especially when I discovered that
literalist Bible believing Christians appeared to be a strong force behind this
current flat earth movement
https://celebratetruth.org/
I felt compelled
that I had to speak out, so I started my blog.
I have
concentrated upon doing my own research and coming to my own conclusions rather
than taking in a lot of information from others who have been working on
debunking flat earth theory for quite some time. I have had some limited communication
with other flat earth debunkers, but not much. I am sure that probably most if
not all of the conclusions I have come to, are in agreement with these others,
as they should be, as math and science and logic form a system that has been
proven over hundreds of years to be quite consistent with itself and reality.
So at this
point, I have not refuted every single flat earth argument that has been
proposed. It is kind of like playing wack-a-mole. If I ever find that I
discover a flat earth argument that I either agree with or am not able to
refute, I will certainly report my findings, as any good and honest scientist
should do.
So here are
some of the things I have learned from my serious involvement in the flat earth
theory controversy over the last couple of months.
Flat earth
advocates have a lot of arguments that seem to make some sense on the surface.
When you
refute them, they do not answer back, or if they do it is not in a substantive
manner, but instead involves throwing out vague arguments and/or insults.
Most of the
time when I have made polite but substantive refutations on flat earther
Youtube channels, I have found that my comments are not allowed.
When you
point out to flat earth advocates problems with the azimuthal equidistant map
that they for the most part have been vigorously using to promulgate their flat
earth theory, the more knowledgeable ones will say that they know there are
problems with that map, and they are still working on getting an accurate flat
earth map.
Well I am
sorry, but many if not most of their arguments that they have been putting out
to justify flat earth theory have depended upon that map and their acceptance
of it. If they now say that there are problems with the map that they are still
working on solving, it is really like they are saying that most if not all of
their previous arguments have been spurious, but “we are still committed to a
flat earth as the Bible clearly teaches us, so please continue listening to us
and be patient, and eventually we will prove that the earth really is flat,
scientifically.”
And how flat
is the flat earth? At least those in the spherical earth camp can tell you how
spherical the spherical earth is. It is very close to a perfect sphere, but not
quite. It is so close to a perfect sphere that assuming it is a perfect sphere
for calculational purposes is plenty accurate for most purposes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Geodetic_System#WGS84
Have those
in the flat earth movement not been deceptively raising false expectations in
their followers in this flat earth concept for far too long? Have they no
shame? How much money are people making off of this movement? Is it a money
making scam preying on the gullible, mathematically and scientifically
illiterate, and especially on the conspiracy minded population?
I have
simply gotten to the point where I will seldom watch flat earther videos
anymore. They simply do not deliver what they promise, so for the most part
they are click bait.
I have
debunked, rockets cannot work in space, the oceans would have been sucked into
space, gravity is just buoyancy and density, and you cannot possibly see the
planet Mercury from the earth according to spherical earth and solar system
theory.
I have heard
some of the most ridiculous arguments from flat earth advocates. Like they have
special airline planes in the southern hemisphere that can fly 900 miles per
hour, and that there is no such thing as a sound barrier.
PROPER ANGER
TOWARDS THOSE WHO HAVE DECEIVED US
If one
discovers that they have been deceived by someone, I think it is normal to feel
some anger toward those who did the deceiving. So to the extent that I bought
into some of the flat earth arguments, bought and read some of the books, and
spent a lot of time watching their videos, I do have some anger towards these
people. The ones who I am the most upset with are those who are knowingly
peddling information that they know to be false, for some reason, whether it is
for making money off of gullible and scientifically illiterate people, or
whether they are paid government agents seeking to infiltrate and destroy
legitimate truth movements and students of real conspiracies. For those who
have been taken in and have become real believers that the earth is flat I have
more sympathy for, for we are all as human beings subject to error and being
deceived.
Maybe one of
the first things that should be announced at the flat earth conference is an
apology for all of the false arguments that they have previously been pushing
so hard, but now, finally, are having to abandon, because they just don’t add
up.
I have a
certain amount of anger toward Christian preachers who have been preaching the
“turn or burn” gospel which I grew up hearing and have since after many years
of study come to not believe. I realize that probably a large portion of these
are people who mean well and truly believe what they are teaching is the truth.
But they have been guilty of the sin of claiming to be sure about something
that no one could possibly be sure about, and they should have known better,
but again, this is what deception does to people.
Flat earth
advocates are guilty of a worse sin in that they are claiming to be sure about
something that can and has been proven to be false. I feel that they are
simultaneously committing blasphemy against God and science, if that is
possible.
COULD CURRENT
FLAT EARTH MOVEMENT BE A GOVERNMENT HATCHED PSYOP?
Can we
imagine the hatching of a plan deep in the bowels of the intelligence agencies prior
to the recent resurrection of the flat earth movement? (I say resurrected
because there was a flat earth movement 150 years ago uncannily similar to the
movement of today as documented in the book “Flat Earth: The History of An
Infamous Idea” by historian Christine Garwood.) My review of her book on Amazon
is here
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RA0IP2ZYH21RW/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0052Z3J2E
Could the
hatching of such a plan have possibly been expressed something like this. “We
have convinced most people that we went to the moon. We have convinced most
people that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone nut assassin of JFK, that 9-11 was a
conspiracy of Osama Bin Laden and 19 Arab hijackers and a few more, and
countless other cover stories for the gullible masses for operations that we
actually planned and carried out. Now we are going to convince a large portion
of people that the earth is flat, and the people who for the most part we will
convince of this are students of conspiracy theories who have seen through so
many of our other lies, such as the moon landings that we faked. Do you believe
we can do this? No way. OK, you just watch us.” Could NASA actually be in favor
of the flat earth movement because it will somehow help them maintain the lie
that we actually went to the moon, once the flat earth movement, that places so
much emphasis on the moon landings having been faked, crashes and burns?
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jan/20/flat-earth-believers-youtube-videos-conspiracy-theorists
IS ALL OF
SCIENCE FAKE?
Man may have
made some wrong turns in philosophy, science, religion, and theology, and other
areas, but that does not nullify large portions of these areas of study that
have a large portion of truth in them. Some flat earthers say that because NASA
faked the moon landings we know that the entire space program is fake. I am
sorry, but this is not sound logic. This would be like saying that because our government
lied to us about the JFK assassination, that they lie to us about everything. They
lie to us about a lot, but not everything.
DETAILS OF
HOW I WAS GOBSMACKED TWO NIGHTS AGO
So I was
looking into comparing spherical earth theory to flat earth theory for the
equinox, that we just had on September 23, 2017.
And to make
it simple I decided to look at this from the standpoint of an observer at the
equator. On the equinox, if you are anywhere on the equator, the sun will rise
exactly in the east, at solar noon it will be exactly overhead, and it will set
exactly in the west. You can view this as either the sun stationary and the
earth rotating once every 24 hours, or as the earth stationary and the sun
going around the earth once every 24 hours. Geometrically it makes no
difference how you view it. So this means that from your point of view on the
equator with the sun directly overhead at solar noon, you will see the sun
moving or going around at an angular rate of 360 degrees per 24 hours, which
works out to 1 degree per every 4 minutes or 0.25 degrees per minute.
Now in order
to compare this to what the flat earth model would dictate, I will make it so
the sun will be directly overhead at solar noon at every point on the equator.
This means that the sun is circling over the flat disk shaped earth (with the
north pole at the center and the equator 6218 miles from the north pole)
exactly over the equator and making one complete circuit every 24 hours.
The
circumference around the equator of the flat earth is 39,071 miles. The sun is
therefore traveling at a speed of 39,071/(24*60) = 27.1 miles per minute.
Equating angular rate of sun movement between spherical and flat models, for
they must be the same because this is what an observer on the earth sees, gives
this equation 0.25*(PI/180) = 27.1/As where As is the altitude of the sun on
the flat earth model. Solving for As gives an altitude of the sun of 6218
miles. So on the flat earth from the observer at a point on the equator, if
they go back in time 6 hours before solar noon, the sun will be seen rising in
exactly the north-east direction. So right here we see that the flat earth
model is far removed from the reality of what one actually observes from the
equator on the equinox, that the sun rises in exactly the east direction. Since
the sun is at the same altitude as the distance from the north pole to the
equator, an observer at the north pole would see the sun at an angle of 45
degrees from the horizontal, and an observer at the south pole (southern ring
for flat earth model) would also see the sun at the same angle of 45 degrees
from the horizontal, both of these predicted observations of the flat earth
model being very far removed from reality.
The hypotenuse
of the right triangle with two equal sides of 6218 miles is 8794 miles. This
means that the equatorial observer will see the sun rising in exactly the
north-east direction at an angle of arctan (6218/8794) = 35.3 degrees up from
the horizontal. The hypotenuse of this right triangle is calculated to be
10,770 miles, so this would be the distance from the equatorial observer to the
sun when it is rising. This again demonstrates how flat earth theory
predictions are very far from reality.
THE END
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