In a surprising turn of events, a well-known flat-earther conceded that his long-held conspiracy theory was incorrect after embarking on a 9,000-mile journey to Antarctica.
YouTuber Jeran Campanella traveled to the southernmost continent to witness a 24-hour sun - a phenomenon that would be impossible if the Earth were flat.
“I realize that I’ll be called a shill for just saying that and you know what, if you’re a shill for being honest so be it - I honestly believed there was no 24-hour sun… I honestly now believe there is. That’s it,” added Campanella.
…
Campanella still didn’t fully embrace the globe Earth model: “I won’t say the Earth is a perfect sphere,” then said, after first admitting he was wrong.
…
The expedition was part of the Final Experiment project, organized by Colorado pastor Will Duffy, who “hopes to end the debate over the shape of the Earth.”
The expedition was part of the Final Experiment project, organized by Colorado pastor Will Duffy, who “hopes to end the debate over the shape of the Earth.”
He arranged an expedition in which four flat Earthers and four “globe Earthers” were flown to Antarctica to witness the continent’s midnight Sun. Antarctica’s Midnight Sun is one of many proofs that the Earth is spherical. It can only occur on a tilted and rotating sphere, and the axial tilt during summer positions the South Pole to face the Sun continuously for 24 hours.
Flat Earthers often claim that the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 prevents civilians from visiting the southernmost continent in an attempt to hide the true shape of planet Earth. However, Pastor Duffy wanted to demonstrate that this wasn’t the case.
“I created The Final Experiment to end this debate, once and for all. After we go to Antarctica, no one has to waste any more time debating the shape of the Earth,” Duffy declared in a statement. “This is, of course, assuming that the entire “experiment” isn’t just an elaborate prank designed to fool us ‘globe Earthers.’ It seems highly unlikely, but we’ll keep you posted if anything changes – not that we’re trying to sound conspiratorial or paranoid.”
this person should be celebrated, not ridiculed. we all could stand to learn from him no matter how divergent our views on life are.
he sought evidence willingly and did not dismiss it out of hand when it didn’t support his hypothesis. in fact, he has gone further and rejected that hypothesis.
his starting point may have been misinformed but he has had the courage to use the scientific method to recalibrate. i salute him.
He dug in his heels and refused any facts and evidence until someone else spent a pile of money to give him something he could no longer argue with.
Yes, he finally admitted the earth may not be flat. Things everyone with a brain already knew. Refusing to listen to experts and insisting you know better until you personally are given special treatment to be shown you are wrong is not something to be applauded.
Fuck this guy for taking it this far.
Kudos to the guy for admitting he was wrong, but I wouldn’t celebrate it too much.
If they’re able to disregard and misinterpret all the available proof regarding Earth’s shape, something is fundamentally wrong. Either they lack the… mental acuity to deal with abstract concepts, or they’re severely lacking in critical thinking.
At least the second one can be overcome if one commits to learning in a structured way, but the first one…
Neither of those reasons are necessarily required to believe in a conspiracy theory.
Plenty of objectively smart people succumb to conspiracy theories. I am almost certain you have unfounded beliefs that when scrutinised make no logical sense.
Often it is just that a person has been disenfranchised and in a vulnerable position where seizing upon a conspiracy theory gives them a sense of control, community and power.
I think this is a lot more common than any other reason.
There is constantly a group of people somewhere shouting loudly that this fact you were just told is no longer true. About everything.
The philosophy of fact and truth eventually has to bridge a gap of trust from the individual. That’s where it can be exploited by some group who stands to benefit or worn down by seeing the scientists rewrite the textbooks with XYZ new discovery.
Exactlty. I found this a really uplifting story.
I like that he refuses to believe it’s a perfect sphere, like someone has been trying to convince him of that.
It’s those pesky perfect sphere earthers we need to watch out for. What have they got against bulges?!
It’s not a perfect sphere anyways, moon gravity and our molten ball spins. OwO nice buldge.
Honestly, if you look at a brand new pool ball, that thing’s less round than the earth is. So it’s pretty spherical. There’s a difference between roundness and smoothness though and while the earth is mostly smoother than a billiard ball, it’s less smooth in the mountainy parts (Himalayas to sealevel and Andes to sealevel)
You might find it interesting that it’s not a sphere at all because it’s spinning fast enough to deform from its own inertia. I think that’s what the commenter was referring to when they said bulges
Unless they were referring to me ;>)
(They shouldn’t do that though, my bulge is more of a smol bump.)
I know there’s a deformation due to spinning, what I’m saying is that this deformation is percentual less than that of the standards expected for the fabrication of pool balls. If you think of billard balls as perfect spheres, you should also think of the earth as one.
I don’t know if I believe that without facts about billiard ball tolerance
https://pwg.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Srotfram1.htm
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equatorial_bulge
Someone on Reddit did the math, and came to the conclusion that it’s close, but earth is slightly rounder.
Damn that was cool. I’m on team billiard now.
I think that everyone has forfeited the right to be taken seriously if they simply refuse to acknowledge proven facts until there is no way left to hold on to their crude claims. I think it is even dangerous to take this seriously, because it legitimizes hostility towards science and ultimately harms an objective public discourse based on verifiable arguments. Of course, everyone should be free to express their opinion, but they must also be held accountable for their actions.
I think the efforts of climate change deniers are a especially vivid example of the danger posed by the normalization of irrational pseudo-arguments and factually untenable denialism. This issue, like many others, is largely beyond direct human experience, but that does not mean that climate change is not real. So you can’t even fly these people to the melting glaciers to convince them, which is out of the question anyway because their denialism is actually motivated by purely selfish goals, namely the avoidance of measures to combat climate change that would harm their financial interests or threaten their lifestyle. In such cases I think that it is perfectly legitimate to simply dismiss these outlandish claims as nonsense and expose their authors as mere charlatans.
would you rather that a climate change denier sticks steadfastly to their opinion even when presented with evidence?
or would it be better if they changed their stance when they truly understand the evidence?
I don’t think most of them can be convinced because they are already well aware that they are wrong - they just don’t care because their only concern is to continue their business ventures (big oil and so on) or their lifestyle (huge cars and so on). They deliberately spread misinformation in order to gain support for their irresponsible cause so that they can carry on as before. I don’t think it’s worth spending time trying to convince them that they are campaigning for a destructive course, especially as that’s exactly what they want to achieve: Tie up resources, sow doubt and recruit equally unscrupulous fellow campaigners. So instead, I think it makes more sense to stand up to these people and make their selfish intentions clear so that as few people as possible feel that this behavior is acceptable. I think we owe that to future generations.