I have noticed an increase in debate on whether the world is actually flat, with many proponents putting considerable effort in attempting to provide plausible arguments for a flat earth.
The following, youtube video of Carl Sagan, is how I understood the idea of a round earth was developed. I vaguely remember discussing the method of determining the length of shadows in two different areas and segment length between them. This method is difficult to refute and to date I have not heard a refutation for it, if you are a 'Flat Earther' maybe you would be able to provide me with one.
What concerns me is not so much whether the Earth is round or flat, but the trend in the methodology of how people these days obtain confirmation of their ideas. I suspect that the flat Earth movement is a cruel joke on ignorant people (however I might be wrong as I have not conducted the experiment myself) and represents a social exercise rather than a scientific exercise.
At Alexandria the angle of the Sun is 7.2 degrees and the distance to the tropic of Cancer is 800Km. On a Flat Earth that would position the Sun 800 / tan(7.2) = 800 / 0.1263294 = 6,332.65 Km directly above the tropic of Cancer.
Move 800 Km North of Alexandria and the angle of the Sun is 14.4 degrees. Now the distance to the tropic of Cancer is 1,600Km. On a Flat Earth that would position the Sun 1600 / tan(14.4) = 1600 / 0.2567564 = 6,231.59 Km directly above the tropic of Cancer.
The Sun can't be in both places simultaneously, ergo the Earth is not Flat.
It is true that i haven't done the experiment personally; however a more extensive experiment was carried out between 1730-1740 by the French Geodesic Mission, not to prove the Earth is round, but to estimate the circumference. When taking observation points in more than two locations, it becomes evident that the earth is somewhat spherical. In fact the French Geodesic Mission, found that it wasn't exactly spherical.
It should be noted that Eraosthenes and the French Geodesic Mission were never in doubt of the earth being round, however were attempting to estimate its diameter.
My concern is not for the earth it is how society is beginning to evaluate information that is provided to them. I see this as perhaps the development of a dark age, not by lack of information but by provision of a quantity of information (and misinformation) that is impossible to manage. I think that the skills for dealing with this information have been gradually removed from our education system and the quantity has increased, resulting potentially, in relative confusion. Hope you enjoyed the video, let me know what you think about how we are fed information and how you evaluate information provided by the many sources available today.
LB
I really like the statement
" I see this as perhaps the development of a dark age, not by lack of information but by provision of a quantity of information (and misinformation) that is impossible to manage. I think that the skills for dealing with this information have been gradually removed from our education system and the quantity has increased, resulting potentially, in relative confusion."
Very Insightful.
I have debated flat earthers before...(a little harshly I might add)...and made a similar conclusion on why they believe this theory.
Upvoted, resteemed and followed.
https://steemit.com/flatearth/@pulserider/where-has-this-flat-earth-movement-come-from
Thanks mate, it generally takes longer for me to establish viewers because not all of my content will be to everyone's liking (and due to poor return, i try to keep them quick). However I appreciate the interest and I am not closed to people disagreeing with me, so if you see something you don't like drop us a comment. It would be great if you hang around, I'll check your channel out too, when I get a bit more time.
Nice post... Thanks for sharing this...
I have to admire the CIA for having the balls to come up with this one - it's the dumbest taint by association story of all time, but it's actually working!
what is the story behind the CIA invlovement
The CIA use several tactics to mess with peoples's headspace.
One is to set up controlled opposition figures like Alex Jones. Half of what he says is true, and the other half is CIA/Zionist propaganda. By connecting truth and lies together from the same source he reduces the credibility of the true parts.
Another similar tactic to make up a story so blatantly moronic that 90% of the population are going to see straight away that it's bullshit, and them promote it with real firepower, closely associated with true stuff.
So now we see sites saying things like global warming is a con and the earth is flat.
And these sites come up really high in search results. I've never seen an example of this tactic being done so well.
One of the main things that gives this story legs is attempts to censor it, which is why I actually upvote flat earth posts that have been flagged :)
Yup I agree....
I said this about a week ago, in my previous posts link with a flat earther....
"You are falling for the oldest trick in the book....they put out a couple outrageous lies to cover up the truth by making you sound crazy.
It's like saying 911 was a false flag (truth) planned by the annunaki (crazy lie) from Nibiru (possibility)
Now when you start saying that people that would have possibly listened to you up to 911 but as soon as you hit lizard men from space...people chalk you up to crazy tin foil hat man.
It's that easy....Alex Jones is one of these people that gets so crazy, mixing truth and crazy, that people just roll their eyes and tune everything out...."
meep