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Comment by barry-cotter | Hacker News Reader

> You know it was once a conspiracy theory to say the Earth wasn't flat.

Archimedes knew the Earth was a sphere. You can tell the surface of the Earth is curved by the fact that the body of a ship disappears from view before its mast.

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I always ask these flat earthers to explain how we see the coriolis effect when firing long range rifles or artillery. Naw, I'm lying, I've never met a serious flat earther online or in person. I think it's a device used in lazy debate rather than a set of real breathing thinking people. Even the flat earth society appears to be just a fun group that meets socially more than scientifically.

I have also never met a flat earther, or seen any discourse online that seems like such.

I am not convinced that they exist in nearly the kinds of numbers that folks like to suggest.

Just watch this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behind_the_Curve

Yes. What people are thinking of here is Galileo and the idea that the Earth revolved around the Sun. Nobody has ever thought the Earth was flat in any great numbers because it's obvious to anyone living in a society that has boats that it can't be true. It's some sort of garbling of what was really being debated in those times.

and also if you just climb a tall enough hill and look at the horizon

And he was wrong, as the Earth is flattened at the poles. Sphere is a first order approximation at best.

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