Conspiracy theories — or any kind of theory that sits outside the accepted norm — can be pretty interesting. After all, imagining the world if things were just a little bit different can serve as a fun thought experiment. One such theory that has a ton of followers, strangely enough, is the belief that our planet is flat.
We’ve known the Earth is round for a long time.
While some might give the credit to Christopher Columbus or another early adventurer for figuring out that our planet is spherical, we’ve actually had this knowledge for well over 2,000 years .
Yeah, on the ground things seem pretty flat.
But that’s because our planet is almost unfathomably big in human terms: at the equator, Earth’s widest area, it would take you a trek of nearly 25,000 miles to go all the way around. That’s like going from New York to L.A. and back 50 times!
Realistically, it isn’t hard to see proof of Earth’s curvature.
Aside from innumerable images from space that show a planet that’s round like an orange, not flat like a pancake, you can even see a slight curvature if you’re up high enough in the proper conditions.
Still, Flat Earthers are surprisingly resiliant.
This old timey map is from 1893. Keep in mind that at this point in history, explorers and ships of European powers had already been circumnavigating the planet for hundreds of years.
Flat Earthers get made fun of a lot.
You might say they bring it on themselves, and I would tend to agree. A Redditor recently posted this idea, where the straightforward idea got a ton of positive responses.
If Earth is flat, it should be provable.
A Flat Earther will tell you that it’s a multinational conspiracy to hide our planet’s flatness. But if you empowered one of these true believers with funds and transportation, they should be able to get to the edge, right?
People have been proposing the best format for this reality show.
Reddit user canteen_boy proposes we equip the contestants with a $500k budget. It’s a lofty amount, and I foresee that the contestants may think they are being messed around with and never give the money back if they never find Earth’s edge.
What would the edge of a flat Earth even look like?
Some Flat Earther theories posit that the continents are surrounded by a massive ocean (so far, they’re right!), and at the edges are massive, impenetrable walls of ice (uh, citation needed on that theory).
I’m on board with these Redditors that this show would be a hit.
I see this being a combination of The Amazing Race mixed with The Hunger Games . Well, a lot less violent than The Hunger Games , but you get it.
You might wonder if there are enough Flat Earthers to fill a reality TV show. Well, Modern Flat Earthers trace their lineage back to 1806, so it’s pretty well established.
An old-timey English inventor, Samuel Rowbotham, adhered to the idea of the ice-walls around our flat disk of a planet. You can read all about it on their official website .
Are they serious?
In the group’s FAQ, they literally have this question listed. The answer, in case you’re curious, consists of one word: NO . I guess that clears their position up: they’re not trolling.
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What about that reality show?
I love the idea and don’t know why some production company hasn’t picked it up. I guess there’s the possibility that Flat Earthers sailing into open ocean might lead to lawsuits.
Let’s just keep hoping for a reality show.
I’ve never met a Flat Earther. But I find their theories hilarious and fascinating, and I really want to see them in some kind of Survivor -esque showdown to find the edge of our world.
