Flat Earthers admit defeat after Antarctica trip proves them wrong

www.iol.co.za Attention Required! | Cloudflare

64 comments

This should not be ridiculed but seen as what it is: realizing you got something wrong and admitting that.
This is very important, because otherwise those who are in the wrong will never admit it and double down to at least still be in their old social circle.
- right. we should all be praising this person for waking up from their slumber
- Plus we gotta check every once in a while to keep the earth on its toes
- This is how science was done back in the day. Welcome to the club, guys!
- At this point some of them are so far in they have a financial incentive. For some if they were at admit, then their income would vaporise. Others know, but do it as a grift to get money out of believers.

*Flat Earther. One dude. The rest are either dumb or trolling.
- And they'll act like this guy was never one of them, and is a plant from the "globies" to trick them.
  Because anything that disproves the conspiracy is actually part of the conspiracy
  
  I think if I had a lot of fun and comradery going to my Earth is flat club on a frequent basis and drinking beer with those guys and getting patted on the back for my opinions I'd probably be pretty unwilling to let a little thing like the Earth not really being flat get in the way, it's besides the point.
- There were several of them who refused to go on the trip, which they were offered for free, and then when other people went on the trip, they claimed that footage of the trip was faked in some way.
  I agree, the people are doing good, who went there and admitted the truth of what they were seeing. There’s a whole category that are even further gone than that, though, to where their brains will actively shield them against something that might threaten the whole self-referential structure.
  
  They knew they couldn't continue the grift they're operating under when confronted with something they flat out denied the existence of as it goes completely against their model.
  Nearly all the content creators know they're basically cult leaders and just want their own flock to pay for their lifestyles without having to really do anything.
- I mean the whole flat earth thing started as trolling anyway...
  
  but then as with many conspiracies, it proved valuable to certain powerful actors who want us all to hate eachother

I think the language in his video is very important and different than "admitting defeat" with his beliefs. He just admits that he didn't believe the 24 hour sun in the southern hemisphere, and that specific belief was proven wrong. "So what does that mean? You are going to have to figure it out yourself." doesn't really sound like his belief of the flat earth was defeated.
- Also, this is Jeranism, who has a history of doing a bunch of legit experiments, ending up proving globe every single time, admitting as much, then just going "well that's interesting", and keeping believing in flat Earth anyway.
  
  Keeps believing or keeps griefing? I think he's smart enough to make these contraptions work and I bet he's smart enough to game the system for an easy buck as well. Because admitting as much probably means getting a real job.
  
  He probably makes good money on this

One of them claims it was "staged". As if it's possible to fake the Sun being visible for 24 hours. There's no convincing people like that.
- It was the north-sun of course!
  
  They’ve actually argued that there’s 2 suns and that the midnight sun is a second sun that replaces the first.
  Least insane flat earth theory.

I mean it's a lot cheaper to go to northern Canada or the Nordics if you want to experience 24h/sun (or night).
- The reason they chose Antarctica is because the most often used flat earth model* has Antarctica as a ring on the "rim".
  They usually do acknowledge a 24h sun in the north existing based on that model because it would require the sun to remain central over the disc, which is geometrically not really an issue. However the southern 24h sun is not possible with that model. (Edit: Excluding some weird lensing effects or multiple suns, like some of them claim)
  *Most of them will tell you they don't have a model, because they don't really know what "model" means.
  Source: I watched too many SciManDan videos.
  
  That and “the government” won’t let people go to the Antarctic because reasons.

Went down the rabbit hole of flat earth beliefs, and apparently they think other planets are round but just not ours. Instead they think it's propped up on some infinite columns. Once I learned they were more willing to believe in columns than their own world being round, I gave up trying to understand them.
- Propped up against the gravity of what? If Earth fell down the infinite columns, how long would it fall? What would be the difference? What are the columns made of? Can we mine them? So many questions.
  
  I thought turtles were involved in the process somewhere, makes about as much sense as columns.
  
  Everything just falls at the same pace
  
  The most prevalent theory is that Earth is constantly accelerating upwards.

I don't think the moon is real and no one will convince me it's just floating up there doing its moon thing till I see it in person and check it out for myself. I will need 2 weeks notice before receiving proof to put in a vacation request.

Hey, I respect that rhey changed their minds

How did this dumb-assery even begin? Does anyone know? I mean who woke up one day, decided they knew better than generations of scientific research and discovery, and proceeded to start infecting others?
It's like the dumbest thing ever, especially when it's so easily provable.
- Apparently, at least part of the modern version was an early discussion forum online. It was used as a fun, stupid method to train debating skills. Unfortunately, idiots stumbled in and assumed it was real. The debaters either got bored, or weirded out, and went elsewhere. The remaining people were the idiots.
  It's an idea that seems to pop up a lot however. It's """Obvious""" to those who don't understand science properly.
  
  Yeah, a joke taken too far
- From what I recall, a group of 4channers started the Flat Earth Society as a joke. As the joke grew and became more popular, it started to attract the real loonies. When enough loonies came together, it sort of stopped being a joke and they took over.
- Reality is a team sport, to some people. They have no objective means for evaluating claims. In their worldview, that is not what claims are for. In a very real sense they do not believe in the concept of truth. There is only trust, and trust is a matter of interpersonal loyalty.
- 4chan started memeing about how funny it would be if modern people believed the earth was flat. So they founded the flat earth society, and started satirically posting about the earth being flat. And then idiots (who weren’t in on the joke, and completely missed the satire) took it as gospel and ran with it. And at that point, 4chan thought it was fucking hilarious and sat back to watch the idiots play. At a certain point, it had grown beyond even 4chan’s expectations, and there was nothing they could do to stop it even if they wanted to.
  The old joke is that Reddit is where stupid people go to act smart, and 4chan is where smart people go to act stupid. And the latter part of that joke is really exemplified by the flat earth society.
- I remember once as a teenager thinking what if atoms aren't real like what if everything is like solid, and just what you see?
  A little interrogation of the concept and it fell apart pretty quickly (maybe ten minutes of internal monologue back and forth), but I still remember the moment the initial thought clapped me on the temple, and in that moment it felt profound.
  I wonder if that's what being a credulous fool is like all the time. It was intoxicating.
- It seems to be a human thing for a certain percentage of us to neglect scientific knowledge and believe in something completely random, far-fetched and borderline bizarre. We had that with deities thousands of years ago and now it's being replaced with flat earth, computer gnomes, tiny sugar balls or perhaps at some point bitcoin. A man can still dream.

I think it can be done with far less travel. One can observe the length of a shadow of an object with a known height at solar noon for a year. Then travel north by car for half a day and observe the length of shadow. Then travel south by car for half a day and observe the length. You can actually use these measurements not only to demonstrate that you aren’t on a flat plane, but also to estimate the radius of the earth.
- But do they believe in cars?
  
  More important: do they believe in shadows?

I believe the earth is flat too, now give me a trip to Antarctica please!

Huh, a moron was dissuaded of their beliefs by factual proof.
Will wonders never cease.
Wish the rest of my country was at least that wise.
- No, no, he was defeated !1

If the word defeat is being used in any sense, then no, they didn't change what they think.

But the other ones who weren't there still moved the goalpost
- They did that before the trip. There was “infighting” as the top dummies in the space tried to badmouth and discredit the ones going as “traitors”. It’s all just a handful of evil people trying to make money off their grift.
- Yeah they were saying the flat earthers who accepted were paid actors or traitors. They claimed the whole thing was fake. Or that there would be a sun simulator at work. And even that looking up at the sky doesn't tell you anything about the earth, you can only look down to tell something about the earth.
  A lot of them are straight up grifters, doing it to troll or have untreated mental health issues. Of course a combination will do as well. They prey on easily swayed people, who like to think they know the real truth and everyone else is being deceived. In a world where there are so many people and everybody is linked together through the internet, it's harder and harder to think of yourself as an individual that matters. So joining a special group of elites that understand the world in a more fundamental way than even top scientists is very attractive. I sympathize with the people who get duped by people like flat earthers. It says a lot that something as easily disproven and as wrong as the flat earth still gets some traction.
  Big up for the final experiment dude to put up the money and organize it all. I hope it convinces even some people flat earthers are wrong and crazy, then it will be worth it.
  
  I don't think we should leave lead poisoning out of any discussion involving crazy humans. An entire generation had their brains cooked by it.

Please leave them there.

Arguing with an idiot makes you an even bigger idiot.
"The earth is flat!"
"That's nice."
Go on with your life.

“idk man, science is wrong all the time…”

While Greek philosophers like Pythagoras and Aristotle eventually proved the Earth was spherical
Where did they learn it? (Rhymes with "Kneejipt*)

Actually, it's good to question things. But only to find out one can demolish every fact into solipsism or a similar concept. After that one has to accept reality, or at least consider trying to live within the current rule set of reality.
For example, I do believe there is a chance we're living in the matrix, on a flat earth, or whatever. But that possibility does not need to be proven, or even disproven, before I continue living life with the perspective and questions I have. I try to be good, in a way that makes me happy to be me.
I did a LOT of psychedelics, weekly acid trips and monthly DMT departures were common. I've met what some call God. But I just come back to this planet and I only talk about my beliefs when people want to talk about it. I don't think any perspective holds more truth than another, like atheism, religion, spirituality and even sacred geometry.
We come together as individuals and a round earth seems extremely plausible and is the main belief. It does not hurt anybody, so I just accept it. There is no reason to chase something that eventually would not matter.
- Maybe ease up on the psychedelics
  
  Why?

64 comments