Importance of the Flat Earth Society

Demonstrations and scientific evidence may contradict some popular beliefs or pseudoscientific statements. A clear example of this circumstance is revealed with the followers of an organization, the Flat Earth Society or Flat Earth Society in English. As its name indicates, the members of this entity reject that the globe is a sphere and instead maintain that it has the shape of an immense flat disk surrounded by a wall of ice.

In ancient times it was already known that the Earth was spherical

The sphericity of our planet has been known for more than 2000 years, since the studies of Aristotle and later the investigations of Ptolemy confirmed this thesis. However, in the Middle Ages some Christian theologians rejected that the Earth was round and defended its flat shape. The reason why this belief was held was related to a literal interpretation of the Holy Scriptures.

What are the arguments of flat earthers?

– Flat Earthers start from an initial idea: the right to doubt “indisputable” scientific statements. In this sense, it is stated that knowing the sphericity of the Earth is not the same as believing in such an idea.

– Faced with the images of cinema and television television that show the roundness of the planet, followers of the Flat Earth Society claim that such images have been created and manipulated by NASA interests. From the position of flat earthers, the belief in a spherical Earth is the result of a conspiracy to manipulate all of humanity. (According to members of the Flat Earth Society, the images that exist on Earth are the result of a sophisticated program computer).

– From a trigonometric point of view, they affirm that in the event that the Earth were round, it would be impossible to contemplate some landscapes at a great distance. The fact that it is possible to observe some landscapes from more than 100 kilometers away is proof that the Earth is flat.

- From the perspective of the observation human, the horizon is always flat. On the other hand, they argue that the sea at rest always appears in a horizontal plane and this property would not exist if the Earth were really a sphere.

The Flat Earth Society was founded in the 19th century and its promoter was an inventor, novelist and Christian fundamentalist, the Englishman Samuel Birley Robbotham.

His main work has a revealing title, "The Earth is not a globe." It states that scientific theories about the sphericity of the Earth are based on optical illusions. When Robbotham died in 1884, his followers continued his popularizing work.

This organization is still active in the 21st century and in the dissemination of their theses they resort to a powerful strategy of marketing with specialized gurus, courses on training, conferences and informative publications. Although it is a heterogeneous group with international projection, the most prominent members are evangelical Christians who believe in the literalness of Genesis.

Fotolia art: dulya