WEBVTT - Flat Earth Update 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:04.760 From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is 0:00:04.840 --> 0:00:09.160 riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or 0:00:09.280 --> 0:00:19.160 learn the stuff they don't want you to know. Hey, everybody, 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:21.159 welcome back to the show. My name is Matt, my 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:24.320 name is not you, argue, and I am Ben, which 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:27.200 makes this stuff they don't want you to know. And 0:00:27.320 --> 0:00:30.440 before we get into it, you guys, we've had we've 0:00:30.440 --> 0:00:36.720 had a lot of people asking for shoutouts shot at corners. 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:41.000 That's right. We are returning yet again for an episode 0:00:41.040 --> 0:00:45.160 of shout Out Corner where we just have listeners introduced themselves, 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:47.680 say something nice. You know, we had we had a 0:00:47.680 --> 0:00:52.400 really cool thing. Jeremy wrote in about his anniversary that 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:56.000 was pretty cool. And uh, we're gonna we're gonna keep 0:00:56.040 --> 0:00:58.720 it brief, but if you wrote to us, keep writing 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:01.680 in who are we shouting out today? The first one 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:04.679 is Jimmy James Kramer. He wrote to us with a 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:08.319 really cool story. Well, it's a disturbing story about these 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:15.720 specific endoscopes that maybe leading to U superbug infections because 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:20.479 they're very difficult to clean. Apparently, endoscopes specifically things that 0:01:20.560 --> 0:01:24.800 let's say, enter orifices in order to check out what's 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:27.720 going on inside of them in the human body. And 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:31.240 the problem with these in particulars because once he goes 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:34.039 in there and it gets the equal ied other bacteria 0:01:34.080 --> 0:01:36.600 that might be living inside of one human, then you 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:39.200 take it out, remove it, try to sterilize it as 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:42.080 much as possible. But perhaps there are a couple places 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:45.039 within the scope, a little small nooks and crannies that 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:49.760 can't be cleaned well enough to be completely sterile, just 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:52.200 a little scary. And I think there were a couple 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:55.480 of recalls at least according to drug watch dot com. 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:59.680 And I cannot uh. I don't know how reputable this 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:02.400 site is, unfortunately, but the thing that he did send 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:05.120 us is pretty creepy. So thanks Jimmy. So is a 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:08.200 nook and cranny? Is that metric system or something? And 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:14.160 I think who's next? Well, next, we have a delicious 0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:18.280 shout out to Goustaf von Essen from Sweden with love. 0:02:18.760 --> 0:02:22.200 He suggested doing an episode on the IB affair. IB 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:26.120 was a secret Swedish intelligence agency that is a mouthful 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:30.840 that worked with the CIA and the Israel security agency. 0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:36.639 So Gustaf on Essen, consider yourself out shouted or shouted out, 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:41.240 and our last one for today goes to uh Lynn, Now, 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:44.239 H may be mispronouncing your name. Lynn. M I a 0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:48.440 o uh there on Twitter? Who said and I quote 0:02:48.919 --> 0:02:51.160 uh conspiracy stuff. Could I please have a shout out 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:55.959 for good luck? It could really help on college mid terms? So, uh, Lynn, 0:02:56.320 --> 0:02:58.960 we wish you the best of luck on your mid terms. 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:02.239 I hope your studies well, absolutely, I think we've been there. 0:03:02.639 --> 0:03:05.440 I haven't off the books shout out real quick? Were 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:07.280 you about to say something? I'm sorry, Oh no, just 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:11.760 continuing to talk to Lynn. But you know it's cool nol. No, No, 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:14.760 I didn't know if you had something substantial to say. 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:19.839 That's not true. Guys, you talk about my mat like that. 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:22.760 Guys were live. Okay, what is it? Okay? No? I 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:26.840 just my dear friend Lee Albert Lee Landers of Augusta, 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:29.959 Georgia town. UM just sent me a text that said, 0:03:30.040 --> 0:03:33.960 quote shout out corners skadooche and he was referencing my 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:37.200 off the cuff shout out corner theme that we have 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:41.520 now you know it's cannon now and yeah and so um. 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:42.960 You know, he asked if I would give him a 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:44.720 shout out because this is the first episode he'd ever 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:49.040 listened to and so Lee shout out to you. Hey, Lee, 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:53.600 you're in You're in trouble because we just violated one 0:03:53.600 --> 0:03:56.040 of the rules of shout Out Corner, which is it's 0:03:56.040 --> 0:03:59.560 around three because it's not a shout out room. So well, 0:03:59.600 --> 0:04:03.320 actually though, if it was only a corner, it should 0:04:03.360 --> 0:04:06.320 just be one. Well no, because then it would room 0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:11.200 has four corners, but a corner like one one on 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:14.520 that side. And then I love that we're talking and 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:19.320 spatial reason because this is perfect. Okay, So before we 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:21.720 before we get lost in that, I I do, uh, 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:23.920 I do, I do have to admit that I love 0:04:24.040 --> 0:04:27.960 the theme. And if you enjoy shout Out Corner, then 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:30.960 right to us. We have a little bit of a 0:04:31.000 --> 0:04:33.800 list and who knows, maybe you can also meet the 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:41.479 rest of the listeners. Gosh, less time on stuff they 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:43.960 don't want you to know. No, you were on a 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:46.680 bit of an adventure and we couldn't really talk about it. 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:48.880 It was a bit of a secret a secret mission. 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:50.919 It was a bit of a secret mission. But the 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:54.400 cat is now out of the bag, or should I 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:58.640 say the clippy. The clipp is out of the bag, 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:03.840 badger is out of the No listeners, I'm referring to 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:10.400 the beloved uh Microsoft widget pre widget precursor to the 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:16.400 widget up right. And there's a name for it now 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:20.160 that I can't remember of that type of of digital assistant. 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:26.039 What I'm getting at is, Guys, over the weekend, I 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:30.800 took a last minute trip to New York with Josh 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:36.240 and Chuck from our brother podcast Sister podcast. We would 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:39.080 have to be gendered about this peer podcast, Keep pure podcast. 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:44.000 That's good stuff you should know to interview one Mr 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:53.880 Bill Gates, creator of The Clippy and also couple of Microsoft. Yah, 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:57.080 something about being one of the most wealthy men alive 0:05:57.120 --> 0:05:59.680 in the free world. Um, but yeah, we talked to 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:03.520 him a out renewable energy. He launched a really big 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:07.120 renewable energy initiative and all that was embargo. We went 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:10.479 to a fancy hotel and talked to him, um, and 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:12.640 then all that stuff hit the news. What I think 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:14.760 is sort of a little bit of a bummer I 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:17.679 think for his folks is the comment that he made 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:21.080 about that Apple should crack that phone of the San 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:25.440 Berndino shooter has overshadowed largely, uh, the the stuff that 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:29.560 he was really trying to promote, which I think is 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:31.360 a shame. Now you said he was a cool guy. 0:06:31.400 --> 0:06:33.480 Though he was super good. He was chilled in and 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:37.880 he was really surprised that there was so few handlers 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:41.240 and um security, I mean it was very low key. 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:43.760 He probably keeps a close cerca Yeah, oh for sure. 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:46.960 But just as about security protocol though there was none 0:06:47.200 --> 0:06:50.560 really yeah, we just I mean I got no pat down? 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:54.279 Did you? Did you request one? Well? Well, I got 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:57.040 there early because I'm a little O c D about 0:06:57.040 --> 0:06:58.800 that kind of stuff and I just want to make 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:00.719 sure the WiFi was fasten so that I could upload 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:02.640 the files real quick. It's really fast turnaround for the 0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:05.040 for the recording. It was for the episode that came 0:07:05.040 --> 0:07:08.680 out yesterday and the interview took place on Monday. Um, 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:12.320 so I uploaded them and our dear friend Jerry, who 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:14.920 is the producer and stuff you should know, received the 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:17.960 files and edited the interview into the episode and we 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:21.960 made the publish deadline, which was yesterday morning. Yeah, I 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:25.040 quick turnaround, And ladies and gentleman, you can check out 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:28.880 that episode on iTunes, Stitcher or wherever you like to 0:07:28.920 --> 0:07:31.520 listen to a podcast, and you can hear every Buddy's 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:36.560 Chuck and Josh as they chop it up with Bill Gates. 0:07:36.560 --> 0:07:39.360 How weird is it that because you were in the 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:41.560 same room with Bill Gates And I don't know exactly 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:45.320 how the degrees of separation work necessarily because I think 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:47.480 the originally you had to send a letter I guess 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:50.320 to someone that you knew when you were gonna establish 0:07:50.360 --> 0:07:53.280 the six degrees. But that connects you up to some 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:56.760 very powerful people, not that he isn't perhaps one of 0:07:56.760 --> 0:08:00.520 the most powerful. It was just like the Kevin Bacon game. Yeah, no, 0:08:01.000 --> 0:08:05.040 I'm scared. One thing that Josh commented on his bill 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:08.800 was drinking a diet coke um and he left it 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:11.520 behind and we could have taken it and harvested his DNA. 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:15.600 I don't know how much effective DNA would get, uh, 0:08:15.640 --> 0:08:18.640 not that I've tried, but from someone's uh not all 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:21.840 the way consumed soda can. I mean there there's some 0:08:22.840 --> 0:08:28.800 pretty hard you know what, let's see if let's see 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:32.960 if we keep that one. But let's also move on. Uh. 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:38.440 This week, we are covering an update series on the 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:42.880 flat Earth theory. Now, our video for this is going 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:46.559 to come out probably around Sunday night, maybe Monday, and 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:50.080 what we do in the video is walk through some 0:08:50.160 --> 0:08:56.360 of the recent ideas, some of the longstanding misconceptions, and 0:08:56.440 --> 0:09:00.000 the reason we wanted to do an update is uh 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:05.640 pretty pretty important, right Matt. Yeah, we okay, so a 0:09:05.679 --> 0:09:12.240 long time ago. Take take yourselves back now a few years, yes, Ben, 0:09:12.320 --> 0:09:15.400 because we find ourselves here at how stuff works and 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:19.600 stuff they don't want you to know intertwined into perhaps 0:09:19.640 --> 0:09:24.160 the story of the modern flat earth theory simply because 0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:27.760 we You and I specifically produced a video back in 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:30.320 two thousand nine which then got on YouTube in two 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:34.679 thousand ten about the theories behind the flat Earth in 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:39.480 the Flat Earth Society, and it was then posted on 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:43.600 various forums around the Internet. There's one in particular on 0:09:43.720 --> 0:09:48.120 the Flat Earth Society dot org, I believe, where a 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:53.520 gentleman named Tom Bishop wrote that specifically, quote how stuff 0:09:53.559 --> 0:09:58.920 works dot com endorses flat earth theory unquote, And it 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:01.640 kind of became a thing that perhaps our video is 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:05.640 being used to promote the flat earth theory, which is 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:10.760 an interesting idea because if you watch the video, uh, 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:14.240 that is clearly not occurring within it. I mean, it's 0:10:14.400 --> 0:10:17.360 it's the same formula you guys apply to any video 0:10:17.440 --> 0:10:21.280 you make where you take an idea, you talk about 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:25.880 its background, and you describe the people that espouses set idea, 0:10:26.200 --> 0:10:29.840 but that does not make you said espousers. And that's 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:32.080 the great thing about that forum, because if you scroll 0:10:32.120 --> 0:10:35.160 a little bit further down and watch the video, yeah, 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:37.360 there's at least there are at least three people who 0:10:37.480 --> 0:10:41.520 are commenting endorses a really strong word, or maybe you 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:45.400 didn't watch the whole video, and uh, it's pretty funny. 0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:47.240 They're even using the hero of the facts and here's 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:50.520 where it gets crazy lines in their commenting back and forth. 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:53.360 So it was quite amusing. I think the more appropriate 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:59.200 headline would be how stuff works makes video about flat Earth. Sure. Sure, 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:02.640 but this is also a surprising thing. As you may 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:07.520 have heard in recent months. Uh, the concept of a 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:11.840 flat earth, which is a very ancient concept, gained national 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:15.280 media attention and more people are talking about it on Twitter, 0:11:15.679 --> 0:11:21.200 on Facebook, on Tumbler, probably on Snapchat. Uh. I don't 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:23.040 think it can quite compete with some of the other 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:25.760 pictures on Snapchat, but there's probably a few things. So 0:11:26.080 --> 0:11:29.199 while we're there, back in two thousand ten, two thousand nine, 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:32.480 let's not stop there. Let's travel further back in time 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:41.520 to the Iron Age. Okay, here we are, so listeners, 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:46.240 imagine that you're living in the Iron Age, and imagine 0:11:46.240 --> 0:11:49.840 that you're an average person, pretty successful in your community 0:11:50.160 --> 0:11:52.920 by the standards of the time. Now, you're not extraordinarily 0:11:53.280 --> 0:11:57.319 successful like a warlord or religious figure or a blacksmith. 0:11:58.160 --> 0:12:01.440 In fact, you're overwhelmingly likely to be a farmer. And 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:05.360 you measure days not necessarily in hours, but in terms 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:09.320 of the world's natural rhythm day tonight, the position of 0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:12.960 the sun, phase of the moon, winter to spring and 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:16.600 back again. And you do not travel widely because this 0:12:16.640 --> 0:12:18.800 would make it difficult to take care of the vital 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:22.480 crops upon which you and your family depend. Not to mention, 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:25.440 it would take a long time to get very far 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:29.880 at all. Right, that's exactly right. And there's I also 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:31.800 have a video about how long it will take to 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:36.240 walk around the world for brain stuff. And even today 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:40.520 it's very, very difficult and pretty dangerous. So forget about 0:12:40.520 --> 0:12:42.679 it in the Iron Age. And you know, let's say 0:12:42.679 --> 0:12:46.800 you're content despite the high rates of child mortality. You 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:49.720 and your partner have had some kids and they're farming too, 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:52.560 and you know, you you feel like life is good 0:12:52.760 --> 0:12:58.000 until imagine one day a stranger comes to your community. 0:12:58.120 --> 0:13:01.040 This is a person so different to that at first 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:04.600 you think maybe they're not human at all, perhaps they're 0:13:04.800 --> 0:13:09.080 some sort of divine creature, an angel, a demon. This 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:14.400 creature turns out to be a time traveler from uh 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:19.280 in this example, specifically, Matt Frederick. And Matt tells you 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:22.559 that the world beyond your flat plane and crops and 0:13:22.640 --> 0:13:30.840 adjacent villages extends beyond the horizon farther further. We're talking philosophically. 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:34.199 Then you might imagine. And if you start walking today, 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:38.079 says the time traveling Matt Frederick, and you always head west, 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:41.559 you will end up not off the edge of the earth, 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:45.360 but back here in this very spot you are standing. 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:52.079 Horsewah And why is that? You ask? And the time 0:13:52.080 --> 0:13:58.640 traveler says, because, of course the earth is round. You 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:00.640 forget the time traveler as you so you don't have 0:14:00.679 --> 0:14:04.680 to do a voice because the world is round. Now, 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:08.160 you might not believe this guy at first, and even 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:12.360 if you did, your community might kill him anyway, because 0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:16.800 that's how people are. Which here's the other thing. You're 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:19.120 going to need a swimsuit because there will be some 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:22.880 swimming involved. But however, you can do this, it's yeah, 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:26.120 so it's the end of the world, or at least 0:14:26.160 --> 0:14:28.400 the the end of the edge of the world as 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:32.160 we know it. So let's talk about ancient civilizations. It 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:34.600 is true that in the Iron Age people did believe 0:14:35.360 --> 0:14:41.240 that the Earth was flat. Numerous ancient civilizations did think 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:44.800 that right all over the world. Yeah, that includes parts 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:47.960 of India before the Gupta period, Grease up to the 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:53.000 Classical period, parts of China, Native American cultures, and on 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:57.000 and on. People actually also believe Earth was covered by 0:14:57.400 --> 0:15:02.200 a solid dome called the firmament, which is you term 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:05.080 me seeing the Bible a lot, right, like if you 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:09.320 got high enough into the heavens, you would eventually hit 0:15:09.680 --> 0:15:14.720 just yeah, it's almost like a glass ceiling of sorts 0:15:14.760 --> 0:15:17.280 the way it's described. Sometimes I see it as a 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:22.200 snow globe almost just above. There's a picture on the 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:24.680 House Stuff Works website that kind of gives you a 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:30.680 great idea, and that is on the article how creationism works. 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:34.000 And it's just it's a cool illustration of the concept 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:37.320 of yeah, exactly. And most of China pretty much accepted 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:41.400 the idea of a flat earth until apparently meeting missionaries 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:45.400 in the seventeenth century, who are like, guys, we're gonna 0:15:45.440 --> 0:15:48.320 blow your minds and double checked with myself. Just just 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:51.000 wanted to put this out there. The Bible does mention 0:15:51.080 --> 0:15:53.760 the firmament seventeen times, but it actually is referring to 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:59.600 a expanse beyond the sky, So the expanse of the 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:03.240 heaven above the earth. Okay, they almost wore a little 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:05.480 head of the curve. Yeah, if you think about it. 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:08.320 And we'll find out more about that too. So there 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:11.360 are some myths we need to bust about belief in 0:16:11.400 --> 0:16:14.880 the flat earth in the ancient world. Okay, we'll talk 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:20.320 about where this argument for a spherical world came from. 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:23.200 But first one of us that one of the biggest myths. 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:25.960 Ladies and gentlemen, If you were already listening to the show, 0:16:26.000 --> 0:16:28.480 then we imagine that you know this is a fact. 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:31.680 But just in case you are still in a situation 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:36.040 where your history teachers are misleading you, probably with the 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:39.200 best of intentions, let's let's get it out of the 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:43.360 way now. Crystal ball Cologne Street named Christopher Columbus was 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:48.320 a gigantic jerk. As a monster, he was like, uh, 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:52.760 the noid, if the noid was a genocidal slaver. That's 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:55.360 a deep cut, my friend, that's a deep cut. Yeah, 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:58.320 I was just I was thinking about the noise. Remember 0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:03.440 the video game was Second Genesis. I played it on 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:08.840 a different console. Thennoid was big dominoes. Look up Nooid. 0:17:08.880 --> 0:17:11.160 Maybe a better thing would be she was the Martin 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:17.080 Scully of his day. Is that better? Okay? But despite 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:21.000 all the terrible things he did, all the just monstrous 0:17:21.320 --> 0:17:25.119 atrocities he committed or helped commit, he was not a 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:29.280 stupid man. He was not like the dullest crayon in 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:32.840 the box. He, like most of the people at the time, 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:36.840 knew the Earth was round. It was common knowledge. He 0:17:36.920 --> 0:17:40.439 did not prove it. He uh. But if anything, the 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:44.960 big argument was about how big or small the Earth was, 0:17:45.040 --> 0:17:47.720 It was not about the shape. Sure seems to me 0:17:47.760 --> 0:17:50.200 if anyone was going to know first that the Earth 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:52.640 was round, it would be somebody in the nautical profession, 0:17:52.720 --> 0:17:55.800 you know, like like a captain and someone that spends 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:58.280 time out on the sea right where you could see 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:01.480 the actual curvature. Also was a big thing, A big 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:06.359 superstition among um seafaring types was that you would reach 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:08.560 the end of the Earth right and they fall off, 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:13.720 and that they were like there be monsters, kind of incognita. 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:17.840 It's true, but so why did this myth come about? 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:21.480 Where As a guy named James Hannum who wrote piece 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:24.520 called science versus Christianity, and we have a quote for 0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:28.359 you directly from him. The myth that people in the 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:31.440 Middle Ages thought the Earth is flat appears to date 0:18:31.480 --> 0:18:34.280 from the seventeenth century as part of the campaign by 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:38.359 Protestants against Catholic teaching, but it gained currency in the 0:18:38.440 --> 0:18:41.919 nineteenth century thanks to inaccurate history such as John William 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:45.520 Draper's History of the Conflict between Religion and Science in 0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:49.639 eighteen seventy four and Andrew Dixon whites a History of 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:53.520 the Warfare of Science with Theology and Christendom in eighteen 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:58.280 ninety six. Atheists and agnostics championed the conflict thesis of 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:02.119 their own purposes, but history racal research gradually demonstrated that 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:05.919 Draper and White had propagated more fantasy than fact in 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:09.240 their efforts to prove that science and religion are locked 0:19:09.280 --> 0:19:13.840 in internal conflict. The myth that people in the Middle 0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:16.200 Ages thought the Earth was flat appears to date from 0:19:16.200 --> 0:19:19.280 the seventeenth century, as part of the campaign by Protestants 0:19:19.320 --> 0:19:23.359 against Catholic teaching, but it gained currency in the nineteenth 0:19:23.400 --> 0:19:27.200 century thanks to inaccurate history such as John William Draper's 0:19:27.520 --> 0:19:31.080 History of the Conflict between Religion and Science and Andrew 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:34.080 Dixon White's A History of the Warfare of Science with 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:38.840 Theology in Christendom. Atheist and agnostics championed the conflict thesis 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:42.480 for their own purposes, but historical research gradually demonstrated that 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:46.679 Draper and White had propagated more fantasy than fiction in 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:49.560 their efforts to prove that science and religion are locked 0:19:49.600 --> 0:19:54.080 in eternal conflict. So essentially, what happened here The reason 0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:58.680 that we have this longstanding stereotype about people in the 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:05.720 ancient world is because two guys with an agenda popularize 0:20:05.800 --> 0:20:10.320 something to make it look as though science and faith 0:20:10.359 --> 0:20:13.240 are always at loggerheads. And you know, if you go 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:17.320 back even further, it was a religious insult that the 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:23.080 Protestants channeled against the Catholics. So let's talk about the truth. 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:28.320 The concept of a round Earth dates all the way 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:32.960 back to at least Pythagoras and Aristotle, so you could 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:36.800 argue that in the eighth century BC, the biblical writer 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:41.639 Isaiah alluded to a spherical Earth. In Isaiah quote, he 0:20:41.760 --> 0:20:45.639 sits enthroned upon the circle of the Earth. Then in 0:20:45.680 --> 0:20:49.879 the third century BC, Hellenistic astronomy established without a doubt, 0:20:49.960 --> 0:20:53.800 factual proof of Earth's spherical shape. So this comes to 0:20:53.880 --> 0:20:57.440 us from astronomy. And we had talked about whether this 0:20:57.520 --> 0:20:59.879 came from people in a nautical profession. But keeping my 0:21:00.320 --> 0:21:04.959 at this point in time, astronomers and those in maritime 0:21:05.000 --> 0:21:09.720 occupations were were intertwined in terms of skill sets. Absolutely, 0:21:09.720 --> 0:21:14.359 I mean astronomy or rather the nautical mapping and you know, 0:21:14.400 --> 0:21:17.800 making the charts is essentially functional astronomy. I mean it's 0:21:18.000 --> 0:21:21.640 using the stars to you know, plot your course. Did 0:21:21.640 --> 0:21:24.120 you guys know that? Did you hear the NPR story 0:21:24.160 --> 0:21:28.399 about this recently where the Navy is going back to teaching, uh, 0:21:28.520 --> 0:21:31.600 teaching the students like where I'm actually well we'll talk 0:21:31.640 --> 0:21:33.479 about that later, but they're teaching people how to use 0:21:33.480 --> 0:21:36.560 the stars and navigate again. Right, Yeah, Then that's a 0:21:36.720 --> 0:21:40.199 that's a valuable skill once once you know it, you 0:21:40.240 --> 0:21:42.959 can keep an eye on it. Because it's true that 0:21:43.000 --> 0:21:48.000 constellations do change over time, but the scale of that 0:21:48.119 --> 0:21:51.919 change is so vast in comparison to you know, human 0:21:51.960 --> 0:21:54.199 lives that you can pretty much count on these as 0:21:54.240 --> 0:21:55.959 a fixed point. I think it's great. I think they 0:21:56.000 --> 0:21:58.960 never should have stopped teaching. Right from there, the belief 0:21:59.040 --> 0:22:05.320 and around Earth's spread gradually throughout the world. People knew, yeah, 0:22:05.640 --> 0:22:10.960 but Ben, is it really a sphere? Yeah? I guess 0:22:10.960 --> 0:22:13.399 you're right. I guess it's better to call it an ellipsoid. 0:22:13.480 --> 0:22:16.720 But still we knew, yeah, it's kind of squashed, right, Yeah, 0:22:17.600 --> 0:22:22.320 so case closed? Right? Or is it? Here's where it 0:22:22.320 --> 0:22:28.400 gets crazy, the flat earth theory. Okay, yes, we said 0:22:28.440 --> 0:22:32.679 earlier Mesopotamian cultures believed that Earth was a disk. We 0:22:32.760 --> 0:22:36.800 have had as a species, so many different shapes for Earth. 0:22:37.000 --> 0:22:39.720 But obviously, if you're standing in one spot, you see 0:22:39.720 --> 0:22:42.600 a mountain, you see an ocean. What's that old poem? 0:22:42.600 --> 0:22:44.480 I looked around from where I stood and saw three 0:22:44.480 --> 0:22:47.399 mountains and a wood. Um, it's a great poem. But 0:22:47.560 --> 0:22:50.200 the the ideas that we were limited for a long 0:22:50.280 --> 0:22:55.800 time because the signs that could prove to us the 0:22:55.880 --> 0:22:58.520 position of the Sun and the and the moon and 0:22:58.680 --> 0:23:01.840 Earth and the shape of those things were difficult to interpret. 0:23:01.920 --> 0:23:05.000 So of course we thought it was flat for a while. 0:23:05.520 --> 0:23:08.560 But well, let alone, what is the sun? What is 0:23:08.680 --> 0:23:10.920 the moon? You know? What are what are these things 0:23:10.920 --> 0:23:12.840 made of? What am I seeing far out there? We 0:23:12.920 --> 0:23:14.879 know that something is there? But what is it? Is 0:23:14.880 --> 0:23:17.000 it angry at me? I mean, that's the kind of 0:23:17.040 --> 0:23:21.400 world people lived in. So gradually as the at least 0:23:21.400 --> 0:23:24.440 in the West, the Hellenistic realization of earth as a 0:23:24.480 --> 0:23:31.159 ellipsoid spread across the world. Some people even today apparently 0:23:32.119 --> 0:23:33.760 didn't buy it. And he said, that's a bunch of 0:23:34.200 --> 0:23:39.159 horse wash, uh, And so so let's look at some 0:23:39.200 --> 0:23:43.000 of the modern day stuff. In ninety six, Samuel Shelton 0:23:43.119 --> 0:23:46.040 founded a society that had a theory about the shape 0:23:46.080 --> 0:23:51.480 of the Earth, namely, it's flat. We're a pancake. Yeah. Yeah, 0:23:51.640 --> 0:23:55.639 And and he based these ideas just on walking around 0:23:55.720 --> 0:23:58.639 observing things and going, hey, al right, well everything's looking 0:23:58.680 --> 0:24:04.000 pretty flat around here. Common sense, yeah, personal observation. Yeah, 0:24:04.160 --> 0:24:06.879 there's a tetic method, the idea that we can only 0:24:07.640 --> 0:24:11.640 encounter things through our own senses. Yes, my, my, this 0:24:11.760 --> 0:24:16.560 one uh, focal point of consciousness understands it in this way. 0:24:16.680 --> 0:24:20.400 And he called scientific evidence for a globe shaped earth dogmatic. 0:24:20.520 --> 0:24:24.040 So he said scientists were making this claim without adequate evidence. 0:24:24.080 --> 0:24:27.359 Basically they were following a party line, right, Which is 0:24:27.520 --> 0:24:30.679 very interesting right when it when you're thinking about some 0:24:30.760 --> 0:24:34.960 of these criticisms that came from the religious angles back 0:24:35.000 --> 0:24:40.560 when the Protestants were criticizing Catholic beliefs, it's just interesting 0:24:40.600 --> 0:24:43.200 to then throw it right onto science. But this was 0:24:43.240 --> 0:24:46.320 also a nineteen like this nineteen fifty six, So keep 0:24:46.359 --> 0:24:49.520 in mind, Shelton lived long enough to see pictures of 0:24:49.560 --> 0:24:52.760 Earth taken by satellites and what do you do then, Well, 0:24:52.800 --> 0:24:55.080 of course he claimed that they were fake. I mean, 0:24:55.200 --> 0:24:58.200 of course they were fake. Right, He and the members 0:24:58.200 --> 0:25:01.400 of a Society continue to support the idea that Earth 0:25:01.480 --> 0:25:05.520 is flat, and the people who disagreed are just part 0:25:05.600 --> 0:25:11.320 of a vast conspiracy to hide the truth about Earth's 0:25:11.359 --> 0:25:16.720 inherent flatness. Right, everybody's in the pockets a big globe manufacturers. 0:25:17.200 --> 0:25:22.640