I kind of feel like flat earth thing started out with people trolling, but a number of morons believed it to be true and now it’s just trolls leading the idiots.
That’s actually exactly how it started. 4chan started memeing about flat earth, pretending to take it seriously. But then the idiots found it, and Poe’s Law fused with the Dunning-Kruger Effect.
The idiots couldn’t tell it was sarcasm, and thought it was serious. Simultaneously, they thought they had stumbled into a huge conspiracy. So then the flat earth stuff took on a life of its own, and the conspiracy became self-sustaining as idiots began a positive feedback loop.
At that point, 4chan took a step back to watch, and just sort of let go of the reins. Because at a certain point, reality is more funny than any memes you can come up with, and this was the peak of entertainment for the people who started it as a joke. Seeing their joke take on a life of its own was better than anything they could have imagined.
It’s like the first kid who came up with the “Marilyn Manson had ribs removed so he could suck his own dick” lie, hearing it from someone from another school for the first time; The excitement would be unparalleled, as they realize just how large the joke has become.
Damn 4chan existed in 1956 when the Flat Earth Society was started? Is there anything 4channers won’t try to take credit for?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_flat_Earth_beliefs#Flat_Earth_Society
I clicked on the hyperlink with great anticipation to find a link to the Wikipedia page for Poe’s Law, the Dunning-Kruger effect, the history of the flat earth conspiracy, or an article about it. Didn’t expect what I got but I can’t say I was disappointed.
Yeah, the model is actually remarkably solid. I’m convinced it started as a thought experiment, if the Earth was flat, how could you explain as much evidence to the contrary as possible without breaking the laws of physics? That’s why there’s absolutely no good reason why this conspiracy would be mainained by thousands of people for centuries without any gain - because that was not the point.
No, it started out when the telescope was invented but people couldn’t go to space so they could only speculate.
I’m aware that in the past people believed the earth was flat. I’m saying that recently…like within the last 5 years or so it made a comeback for whatever reason.
People in the distant past also knew the earth was spinning. It doesn’t even require any mathematical skill to realize that the way the sun appears to rise and fall in an arc at your given location probably indicates you are on the relatively moving object. Sure, maybe some of them thought it was a flat disc, perhaps, but i bet they mostly thought earth was spinning.
Interesting, considering observations with a telescope and the development of calculus is what allowed us to understand that the solar system works out like it does via physics and the mathematics that it’s based on.
Actually it started out when Erathostenes calculated the size of the earth
