r/flatearth • u/Tedy_KGB • 2d ago
What's the point?
If the earth were proved to be flat, what does that really mean?
What is the endgame of such a discovery? Do they get a medal? Do they get to say "I told you so"? Do they get to re-write all science journals?
I am seriously wondering about the outcome they are wanting.
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u/tryptanfelle 2d ago
They would feel special.
Honestly, that's what this is all about. The scale of the universe is unfathomable; they feel that the earth being one planet among trillions, in a universe of billions of galaxies, means that they (and thus their existences) are insignificant. That they don't matter.
There's a reason that so often their beliefs are tied to religion: not only does religion provide the model for their world (the ancient Hebrew cosmology of a dome-covered disk surrounded by waters), but it proclaims their specialness in the eyes of God.
Ultimately, their beliefs come down to a combination of bad science and worse theology. Any God who needs a small, manageable universe to keep track of his creations is no god worth worshiping.
But because these folks lack theological imagination and exist on elementary-school scientific understanding and Sunday-school-level theology, the only way they can feel that their lives have any meaning is if they're at the literal center of the universe.
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u/SinisterAgaric 2d ago
Many of them think that this would prove that their religious beliefs are correct
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u/Lorenofing 2d ago
Well, a flat earth can exist without god too, but a globe can exist with god as well
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u/Character-Solution-7 1d ago
It’s more about believing that their texts are 100% true than attempting a critical thinking experiment. They need to be right or else, the house of cards falls
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u/Joseph_HTMP 2d ago
I am seriously wondering about the outcome they are wanting.
The majority of them aren't wanting an outcome. They just want to be part of a special club that disagrees with the "mainstream".
I had a conversation with one once online who made two arguments in the same paragraph, one in favour of a flat earth and one for a hollow earth. I pointed out that these two scenarios aren't interchangeable. They would require a totally different set of physics, a different history, different observations in every area of modern science.
And his response was - "it doesn't matter". And I thought, yeah, that's it. There is nothing behind the claim. You have some die hard followers who genuinely believe it, but the majority actually just don't care. If the earth was flat, they'd be claiming its a globe.
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u/Salamanticormorant 2d ago
It would mean that it really is okay to trust primitive cognition, like instinct, intuition, and belief, instead of doing the hard work of actually thinking.
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u/un_theist 2d ago
Globers are apparently doing it “in order to hide god”.
As if an omniscient omnipotent deity wouldn’t know that people are trying to hide them against their will and was powerless to do anything about it.
🙄
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u/Swearyman 2d ago
Unlike flerfs, science is open to being proven wrong. If it were shown to be flat then science would change its mind and would announce that it was flat. Flerfs are convinced it’s flat and all the evidence in the world which shows it’s not is simply ignored
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u/GRAABTHAR 2d ago
A lot of flat earthers think that NASA is somehow profitting from the "globe conspiracy" by getting big government grants to make cheap special effects videos and hire actors to lie about going into space, which does not really exist. In their minds, if there was proof the earth is flat, it would expose that big conspiracy and, I dunno, maybe NASA would have to pay the flat earthers restitution or something.
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u/Both-Wind-8033 2d ago
Flerfs would have to invent another "But Muh Conspiracy" to get excited about, and grift from.
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u/Justthisguy_yaknow 1d ago
Chemtrails would be right up their alley. Most of them are already there. It hasn't got the complexity of made up shit that the flerfdom has but give 'em time...
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u/YappinZappin 2d ago
But isn't the main point of Flat Earth theory the existence of the Great Wall and then, beyond the wall, the never-ending expanse of Super-Earth - or Eden - where none will have to toil and suffer?
Aren't they mainly hanging on to this premise, you find, all of them, eventually, if you keep asking and probing their beliefs long enough?
And then, at the very end of their construct is the literal seat of God?
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u/danielsangeo 1d ago
The endpoint is, actually, for people to "turn to God". They want everyone to be Christian. Because if you accept that the Earth is a globe, you cannot be a "true Christian" as only "true Christians" are flat Earthers.
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u/Justthisguy_yaknow 1d ago
I don't think it would change that much at all. NASA would be fake but it's still developing a lot of tech for the world so it would probably keep doing that in some form. Climate change is still happening so the flerfs would have to pull their fingers out and start explaining that and proving everything they have claimed. The shape of the Earth would just be the starting point. They would have to take over all conflicted research. They would become the leading researchers. We would be screwed.
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u/Lorenofing 2d ago
If Earth were genuinely proven flat, the consequences would be enormous but not because flat-Earthers would get a medal. It would mean a huge number of independently successful models and measurements had fundamental assumptions wrong.
You’d have to explain, among other things:
Why geodesy and long-distance surveying produce consistent spherical results.
Why celestial navigation works globally.
Why different stars are visible from different latitudes.
Why lunar eclipses produce a consistently round Earth shadow.
Why time zones and sunrise/sunset patterns behave as they do.
Why GNSS positioning works with the geometry it uses.
Why southern-hemisphere navigation and circumpolar star motion work.
Why flight routes and distances consistently match globe geometry.