Flat Earther admits he was wrong after traveling 9,000 miles to Antarctica to test his belief
Flat Earther admits he was wrong after traveling 9,000 miles to Antarctica to test his belief
In a surprising turn of events, a well-known flat-earther conceded that his long-held conspiracy theory was incorrect after embarking on a 9,000-mile journey to Antarctica.
YouTuber Jeran Campanella traveled to the southernmost continent to witness a 24-hour sun - a phenomenon that would be impossible if the Earth were flat.
"I realize that I'll be called a shill for just saying that and you know what, if you're a shill for being honest so be it - I honestly believed there was no 24-hour sun... I honestly now believe there is. That's it," added Campanella.
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Campanella still didn't fully embrace the globe Earth model: “I won’t say the Earth is a perfect sphere,” then said, after first admitting he was wrong.
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The expedition was part of the Final Experiment project, organized by Colorado pastor Will Duffy, who "hopes to end the debate over the shape of the Earth."
The expedition was part of the Final Experiment project, organized by Colorado pastor Will Duffy, who "hopes to end the debate over the shape of the Earth."
He arranged an expedition in which four flat Earthers and four "globe Earthers" were flown to Antarctica to witness the continent's midnight Sun. Antarctica's Midnight Sun is one of many proofs that the Earth is spherical. It can only occur on a tilted and rotating sphere, and the axial tilt during summer positions the South Pole to face the Sun continuously for 24 hours.
Flat Earthers often claim that the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 prevents civilians from visiting the southernmost continent in an attempt to hide the true shape of planet Earth. However, Pastor Duffy wanted to demonstrate that this wasn't the case.
"I created The Final Experiment to end this debate, once and for all. After we go to Antarctica, no one has to waste any more time debating the shape of the Earth," Duffy declared in a statement. "This is, of course, assuming that the entire "experiment" isn't just an elaborate prank designed to fool us 'globe Earthers.' It seems highly unlikely, but we'll keep you posted if anything changes – not that we're trying to sound conspiratorial or paranoid."
this person should be celebrated, not ridiculed. we all could stand to learn from him no matter how divergent our views on life are.
he sought evidence willingly and did not dismiss it out of hand when it didn't support his hypothesis. in fact, he has gone further and rejected that hypothesis.
his starting point may have been misinformed but he has had the courage to use the scientific method to recalibrate. i salute him.
Kudos to the guy for admitting he was wrong, but I wouldn't celebrate it too much.
If they're able to disregard and misinterpret all the available proof regarding Earth's shape, something is fundamentally wrong. Either they lack the... mental acuity to deal with abstract concepts, or they're severely lacking in critical thinking.
At least the second one can be overcome if one commits to learning in a structured way, but the first one...
Neither of those reasons are necessarily required to believe in a conspiracy theory.
Plenty of objectively smart people succumb to conspiracy theories. I am almost certain you have unfounded beliefs that when scrutinised make no logical sense.
Often it is just that a person has been disenfranchised and in a vulnerable position where seizing upon a conspiracy theory gives them a sense of control, community and power.
He dug in his heels and refused any facts and evidence until someone else spent a pile of money to give him something he could no longer argue with.
Yes, he finally admitted the earth may not be flat. Things everyone with a brain already knew. Refusing to listen to experts and insisting you know better until you personally are given special treatment to be shown you are wrong is not something to be applauded.
Fuck this guy for taking it this far.
I think that everyone has forfeited the right to be taken seriously if they simply refuse to acknowledge proven facts until there is no way left to hold on to their crude claims. I think it is even dangerous to take this seriously, because it legitimizes hostility towards science and ultimately harms an objective public discourse based on verifiable arguments. Of course, everyone should be free to express their opinion, but they must also be held accountable for their actions.
I think the efforts of climate change deniers are a especially vivid example of the danger posed by the normalization of irrational pseudo-arguments and factually untenable denialism. This issue, like many others, is largely beyond direct human experience, but that does not mean that climate change is not real. So you can't even fly these people to the melting glaciers to convince them, which is out of the question anyway because their denialism is actually motivated by purely selfish goals, namely the avoidance of measures to combat climate change that would harm their financial interests or threaten their lifestyle. In such cases I think that it is perfectly legitimate to simply dismiss these outlandish claims as nonsense and expose their authors as mere charlatans.
Campanella still didn't fully embrace the globe Earth model: "I won't say the Earth is a perfect sphere,"
This is correct. It's an oblate spheroid, calling it a perfect sphere is an incorrect simplification.
Still gets closer to the truth than calling it flat.
He's jumped from being completely wrong to being potentially more right than most people.
More simply speaking, trees and life but also hills and mountains exist, so it must not be a sphere.
The earth is basically a huge potato.
Isn't it a geoid ellipsoid?
Isn't it a geoid ellipsoid?
Yo I also don't believe the earth is spherical, someone should fund sending me to Antarctica to prove me wrong
A lot of flat earthers when asked if they want to go, refused. What a bunch of idiots, that trip is expensive and makes you the coolest person in the room.
All of the people that were asked were prominent online personas in the flat earth space. Aka grifters who have made their day job out of talking nonsense and duping people. They would not just be ousted from the community they are currently in, they would also lose their income.
Just convincing any old smuk wouldn't be useful, so flat earth "influencers" were asked.
Yeah, but the grift would be over for them.
I second you. Let’s start a YT channel and contact Pastor Duffy for a ticket later.
Btw we‘ll take our biggest fans with us. Join our channel
Sounds like a great starting point for a sequel to The Thing
Yeah yeah, I don't believe, put me in orbit. I won't have a good time I promise.
The most surprising thing is that a Flat Earther actually admitted that they were wrong!
That's the point, yes.
The Earth is not a perfect sphere, nor is it argued to be. It is an oblate spheroid. It bulges at the equator due to the spinning. Additionally, if it were perfectly spherical, we wouldn't have changes in elevation, mountains, etc.
If I shrunk it down to the same size the earth would be smoother than a billiard ball.
Yup. The earth is definitely not round, but we only really notice the hills and valleys because of the scale. The earth may not be smooth when you’re a tiny organism living on it, but it is smooth when you’re looking at it from a much larger perspective.
Well the problem with flat earthers has never been lack of evidence, its mental illness and gulibility
Oh sure, but it's good to point out their stupidity from multiple angles. Instead of trying to refute them, I'm attacking the very premise. It's fun pointing out that the "side" they are arguing against isn't even making the claims they are making.
Campanella still didn’t fully embrace the globe Earth model: “I won’t say the Earth is a perfect sphere,” then said, after first admitting he was wrong.
Lol whatever lets you save face, bud... But FYI, scientists don't believe this either.
Good for them for admitting thier mistake. Respect.
The rest of flat earth society will immediately dismiss these findings of course.
Sorry for my ignorance but why didn't they just go to the Arctic, it should be much cheaper and one don't have to go straight to the Pole, northernmost parts of Canada, Alaska, or Europe would be enough to witness 24-hours sun. I personally was to the north of the Arctic circle and the polar day was lit. And it was as cheap and easy as buy one railway ticket from Moscow.
In many flat earth models they envision the arctic as the center and Antarctica as the rim, in which case 24h daylight is possible in the former but not the latter.
Flat earth theory is flat ocean theory. It can be tested with a telescope on an tripod and any land mass at least 10 miles away over the ocean.
One doesn’t need to go to the ends of the map to disprove flat earth. Just far enough to see whether the surface of the ocean is curved or not.
Why, do we give credence to the mentally insane. It's 2024.
Because its 2024. The mentally insane have way more ability to be heard then ever.
Prior to the 2000s they never had much option to talk to each other.
Well a floating balloon would give you 24hr light too! Did he keep the sun in view the whole time he was flying to Antarctica? Maybe they just took him to where they had the stationary 'sun' instead of the moving one? Maybe he didn't travel far enough to see the edge of the earth! /s for those who need it.
Seriously though, imagine what this guy would think if he got on to one of the space expedition flights, or simply a high altitude one... I hear it's quite a humbling, eye opening experience to see the curvature of the planet.
I've watched an island slowly rise above the horizon as I climbed a hill, and just that was a pretty remarkable feeling. I can very much believe what astronauts say about it
He admitted he was wrong. Why do you want to rub it in his face ?
Gotta rub it somewhere.
Was that 9,000 one way or was it for the round trip?
Maybe he went around a few circles, much like his logic
The debate over the shape of the earth???
Obviously you can come up with an explanation for the 24 hour sun. These people just aren’t trying hard enough.
And they will. Most will say this guy is a sell out/bullied. Given, they genuinely claim world powers are preventing people going.
It is sorta interesting that the difficulty of getting somewhere. Has a history of creating false stories. If you look at the1400-1600s maps of Africa. Created by Europeans. Humanity has a natural desire to invent the impossible when evidence is not clearly visible.
They seem to ignore how, despite questioning the science behind spherical (ish) earth. They really have no possible explanation for how the universe created their own alternative. Not even a clearly debunkable one.
It's just like the mythical creatures drawn on the 1500s maps of Africa. It's more about interesting stories than actual desire to understand.
I don't believe it. I think he was incepted on the plane ride. Where was Leonardo DiCaprio during this?
When many different people tell you that you are a fucking moron, at some point you need to listen and reassess.
Darwin would have to disagree.
Heck a large part our planets science history were considered morons when they proposed ideas.
This guy trully is a moron. But the human races history of collective judgement is far from good.
Seems excessive to go to Antarctica to get 24 hour sun. Just go to upper Sweden or something.
They believe the south pole is the edge of the earth, so a 24 hour earth is only possible in the north pole
It help to also demonstrate that the stars are oriented differently in the southern hemisphere
Not when the Sun is blocking them 24 hours a day though. Sorry, stars are closed, come back in 6 months.
Have any flat earthers ever flown to Asia from the western US? If the earth was flat, you couldn't take a worldwide flight without flying off the edge if you kept travelling west :P
The argument would be you are flying in a circle?
And that "plane windows distort the image"
He knew for years
Obviously NASA CGI Projection Dome, this "Flat Earther" was a Government Plant all along!
/s
Now we just need to raise enough money to fly each of these crazies from pole to pole. Ugh...
Campanella still didn’t fully embrace the globe Earth model: “I won’t say the Earth is a perfect sphere,” then said, after first admitting he was wrong.
Who the hell told him scientists consider it a perfect sphere? Maps for various satellite navigation systems are incompatible, among other things, because of different geoid approximations they use.
And his sun experiment, obviously, didn't require traveling to Antarctica itself, he could just as well travel half the way, I dunno. Make the antique experiment with sticks in sand.
(I've spent half a year in a geodesy and cartography university before getting depressed after barely passing first exams and dropping out.)
In any case, he's a fine guy and smarter than many people. He at least only accepted real proof. Most people around think they are smarter than flat-earthers because of being in other group than the stupid one. They are not unless they can prove that position. Most of them can't, and still consider others stupid for questioning dogma, which is the whole fscking reason we know things allowing to build refrigerators, airplanes, radios, computers, and that Earth is not flat too.