Modern flat Earth beliefs

This article is about modern-day beliefs that the Earth is flat. For similar topics, see Flat Earth (disambiguation).

Refer to caption
Projections of the sphere like the azimuthal equidistant projection have been co-opted as images of the flat Earth model depicting Antarctica as an ice wall[1][2] surrounding a disk-shaped Earth.
A modern model of the Earth's rotation
Twenty-two images of the Earth taken from space by the DSCOVR satellite. The observable, contemporary scientific view of the Earth as a rotating spherical globe, which flat Earth believers contest.

Pseudoscientific beliefs in a flat Earth are promoted by a number of organizations and individuals. The claims of modern flat Earth proponents are not based on scientific knowledge and are contrary to over two millennia of scientific consensus based on multiple confirming lines of evidence that Earth is roughly spherical.[3] Flat Earth beliefs are classified by experts in philosophy and physics as a form of science denial.[4]

Flat Earth groups of the modern era date from the middle of the 20th century; some adherents are serious and some are not. Those who are serious are often motivated by religion[5] or conspiracy theories.[6][7][8] Through the use of social media, flat Earth theories have been increasingly espoused and promoted by individuals unaffiliated with larger groups. Many believers make use of social media to spread their views.[9][10]

  1. ^ Schadwald, Robert J. (July 1980). "The Flat-out Truth:Earth Orbits? Moon Landings? A Fraud! Says This Prophet" (PDF). Science Digest.
  2. ^ Schick, Theodore; Vaughn, Lewis (1995). How to think about weird things: critical thinking for a new age. Houghton Mifflin. p. 197. ISBN 978-1-55934-254-4.
  3. ^ "Is the Earth round?". oceanservice.noaa.gov. US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
  4. ^ Brazil, Rachel (14 July 2020). "Fighting flat-Earth theory". Physics World. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  5. ^ Nguyen, Hoang (2 April 2018). "Most flat earthers consider themselves very religious". today.yougov.com. YouGov PLC. Retrieved 22 February 2020. more than half of Flat earthers (52%) consider themselves "very religious,"
  6. ^ Wolchover, Natalie (30 May 2016). "Are Flat-Earthers Being Serious?". LiveScience. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  7. ^ Landrum, Asheley R.; Olshansky, Alex (2019). "The role of conspiracy mentality in denial of science and susceptibility to viral deception about science". Politics and the Life Sciences. 38 (2): 193–209. doi:10.1017/pls.2019.9. ISSN 0730-9384.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference sagepub was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ambrose was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Dure was invoked but never defined (see the help page).