Neil deGrasse Tyson, famed
astrophysicist and television host, has confirmed the long held belief Earth is
indeed round and not flat. Appearing online in a YouTube video posted on the
StarTalk channel, Mr Tyson vented his outrage and debunked the Flat Earth myth.
Unamused by his co-host Chuck Nice’s question about the shape of the Earth, the
vexed scientist said: “We have video from space of the rotating, spherical
Earth. The Earth is round.”
The Flat Earth Theory is an
old and obviously debunked belief the world is not spherical, but rather a flat
disk surround by a towering barrier of ice. Believers of the bunkum theory,
commonly referred to as Flat Earthers, claim to rely on their own senses and
observations rather than empirical scientific data.
Many Flat Earthers have
accused leading scientific bodies like NASA of deceiving the public about
Earth’s shape. But Mr Tyson now expressed his confusion when faced with the
number of people who still subscribe to the theory.
The physicist said: “What is
odd, is there are people who think Earth is flat but recognise that the Moon is
round, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and the sun are
all spheres. But Earth is flat. Something doesn’t square.”
He then went on to explain
why the vast majority of stellar objects in the observable universe are all
round, and only occasionally appear to be flattened. According to Mr Tyson all
the known laws of physics and processes in space “favour the sphere”.
He said: “And if something
is not a sphere and is a little flattened, you can ask what flattened it, and
you find out it’s rotating real fast. So then it gets a little flattened
because of that. So almost everything in the universe is either a sphere or
light distortion of a sphere, for some other things happening to it. We can
just see how the universe favours spheres.”
But then why do so many
people still believe the world is flat? A lot of it comes down to the
fundamental problems with free speech, Mr Tyson argued.
Mr Tyson blamed the scores
of people who truly believe the Earth is flat and spout their false theories to
others without consequence. The physicist also criticised the American
schooling system, saying it does not teach people to think critically.
He said: “Our system needs
to train you not only what to know, but how to think about information and
knowledge and evidence. If you don’t have that kind of training you would run
around and believe anything.”
The Flat Earth Society
claims to encourage the spread of ideas and free thought since at least 1865. Though
it is often assumed to be a joke or a spoof organisation, the society considers
itself to be a serious movement. The group says on its website: “Flat Earth
Theory has grown over the centuries like a wondering sojourner hungry for truth
and eager for discovery.
“It’s changed from the
learned conjectures by our ancestors of Antiquity to Victorian polymaths like
Dr. Samuel Birley Rowbotham, and it even thrives today in a world-wide grassroots
effort of scholarship. As people walked through the ages collecting data and
knowledge, the Flat Earth Theory walked with them, growing wise and robust in
kind.” So what do you think about this? Let us know in the comments.
The problem with the flat earth folks falls into two categories. Most hate NASA and see conspiracy in everything. The other group feels a sense of self righteousness by interpreting certain scriptures literally, rather than figuratively as intended.
ReplyDeleteI don't know of any scripture that supports the flat earth belief, and I love the scriptures enough to be well read in them. Which scriptures are you alluring to in your comment above...?
DeleteThe book of Enoch is used quite extensively by those who quote scripture to justify their flat earth belief.
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