This is why some people believe the world is flat, according to an astronomer
The idea of a flat earth is theoretically impossible, according to Stuart Clark
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Business Insider UK spoke with astronomer Stuart Clark, author of Unknown Universe, about why people still believe in a flat earth.
Stuart Clark theorises that flat-earthers could be doing it for “comic effect”.
He then goes on to address other questions that would arise as a result of flat earth theory.
Full transcript below
Stuart Clark: It’s so clearly obvious that the world isn’t flat. We see when ships leave the harbour you can see as they gradually disappear below the horizon. You can see if you go up on top of a tall tower or a hill and you see more over the horizon.
All our physics is constructed now, the physics of orbits of things going around the earth is all constructed with this three dimensional world. And the pictures from space show our world as a globe and yet somehow there are some people that still seem to believe the earth is flat.
So as human beings we love stories because stories make sense of our lives, of our world, they endow it with meaning and they can be understandable. Science is a way of what we hope is a true story something that is demonstrably true through experiment.
But as we see throughout the ages of the day can be overturned as we turn to a more precise understanding of the universe around us.
And generally speaking those become more complicated. So there is a tendency for people to reject that reality, that science of the day, on comfortable myths. Things that make them feel at home things that make them much happier that they know what’s going on.
Maybe this obsession with the flat earth is one of those. Or maybe they’re just contrarian. I don’t know, it’s one of those things that I find so difficult to get my head around. I really do.
My own pet theory is that they’re doing it for comic effect.
Imagine for a moment that the earth was flat. Well, how much thickness does it then have? These are the kind of questions that you have to ask.
So you have an edge. Well, would things fall of the edge? How do you generate gravity to make the things fall? What is it that is actually causing the gravity to make things fall off the end? A flat surface is fairly unstable, the other forces it would be flexible and move around.
It’s hard to even begin what a flat earth would actually be like because it’s just so impossible.
• The scary truth about earbuds and hearing loss
• Eight reasons Finland's education system puts the US model to shame
• A village in Kenya is disproving the biggest myth about basic income
Read the original article on Business Insider UK. © 2016. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments