Phil 110.

Science:
Good, Bad and
Bogus
Lecturer: Doug
Campbell
Lecture #1: The
Earth — Flat or
Round?
 Some of these
lectures will include
segments from the
2018 NetFlix
documentary
“Behind The Curve”,
about Flat Earthers
 Watch it!
(if you’ve got Netflix)
 It stars this guy:
• Like it says on his tee-shirt, his
name is Mark Sargent.
• He created a series of YouTube
videos, called Flat Earth Clues.
• These videos have been watched
by millions and have led to the
Flat Earth theory enjoying a
recent huge surge in popularity.
• He is 54, single, and lives with his
mom, and for this reason, he
says, he has a spare lot of time
of his hands.
 Segment 1.
00.26 – 1.20. (Where are you?)
The main tenets of Flat Earth theory.
1. The Earth is coin shaped. We live on the top half
of the “coin”. The Earth’s oceans are surrounded
by a wall of ice (“Antarctica”).
2. The sun and moon are both relatively close to
the Earth, and move around above it, like
spotlights, causing day and night.
3. There is a huge, hundreds of years’ long,
intergovernmental conspiracy (of which NASA is
an important part), to keep us thinking the Earth
is a globe.

• Beyond this, flat earther’s disagree among

themselves about many details of the theory.
 Segment 2.
4.05 – 5.25. (Seattle)
 This week’s mini-assessment
task
• Due this Sunday at midnight.
• Mark Sargent is standing on the beach in Tacoma,
Washington. He can see Seattle. How, if at all, can this be
explained if the Earth is round, rather than flat?
• Find out the answer by researching online.
• A good tool to use in answering this question is
google maps.
– Note: you can use google maps to measure distances. To do so:
1. Right-click on the map at your chosen starting point.
2. click Measure distance.
 Two more segments

• 6.04 – 6.51. (Poop sandwich,

and flight paths.)
• 9.00 – 9.37. (Planefinder global
map)
 Class Question
• Why is the question as to the
existence, or non-existence,
of planes flying over the
Southern Oceans relevant to
whether the Earth is flat or
round?
• Answer: because if flat Earth
theory is true, then the
distances involved in flying
over the Southern Ocean
would be huge. The flights
would take a long time and
be very expensive, even if
planes could get that far.
• E.g.: the
distance from
Christchurch to
Sydney would
be equal to the
distance from
Montreal to
London.
 Another segment

• 10.28 — 11.35. (Planefinder.)

 Let’s try to
replicate Mark
Sargent’s
planefinder
results ourselves
Link to the planefinder
map
• Got to here, end of lecture 1
 A non-course content related
question to help me fix a problem
• What do you see on the course front page?
For people who haven’t got Netflix
• Here is an online version of “Behind the
Curve”
– https://tubitv.com/movies/100000939/behind-the
-curve
– (Thanks Brent!)
 Let’s check
whether the
distance from
Christchurch to
Sydney really
does equal the
distance from
Montreal to
London

• Link to google map

s
 Class Question
• Has anyone here been to the
so-called “Southern
Hemisphere” (the region
outside the red area)?
• Has anyone here personally
travelled on a plane across
across the Tasman sea, or
any of the southern oceans
(the South Pacific, Indian, or
South Atlantic)?
• If so, how long did the flight
last? Did it take a lot longer
than scheduled?
Class Question: how might one test
whether google maps is lying
about distances?
Class Question: how might one test
whether your car’s odometer is
lying about distances?

In short, these are things that one can easily check

oneself, without any complicated equipment.
 Another
Point

• Does
this look
like NZ?

• No. It is running east-

west, not north-south.
• But maybe our
compasses are wrong!
 Another
Point
• Does it
look like
NZ if we
spin NZ
around a
bit?
• No. The shape’s off.
• E.g., Northland is pointing
in curved around too
much.
 This is a problem that
cartographers have wrestled with
for centuries.
• Any attempt to project the surface of a 3D
globe onto a flat map causes major distortions
to the shapes of the different landmasses.
Greenland is way too big.

Africa is way too small.

The total areas of all regions But Greenland is squished flat.
are represented correctly.
 There is a massive gulf of
All the regions of the world get
nothingness between the US
represented fairly accurately, area
and Europe
wise.
And there is another massive
gulf of nothingness just of New
But Greenland gets cut in half. Zealand’s East Cape.
 Flat Earth theory has
a lot of problems!

• This might be expected, given that

the Earth’s status as a globe has
been a very securely established
doctrine of science for about 2300
years.
• Something to start thinking
about: In a few week’s time, the
weekly mini-assessment task will
involve you coming up with, and
then performing and documenting,
some simple observation or
experiment to test which theory is
correct, flat earth theory or round
earth theory.
Another segment from Behind the
Curve
• 1.32.20 — 1.32.47. (On
what flat earth offers.)

As a complete aside from

what this course is about,
Tim Urban did a great, Tim Urban
insightful and funny Ted
Talk on procrastination.
It’s here.
 D
How
B
are
BD
you a
D D
D
Flat Earther?
D D C C
B B B
B B C C C
&* C C
&* H H
*^* *^*
GF G
&* &* &* H H HF
&* &* H H
*^* *^**^*
*^**^* F G F F G GG G
F F
E E
A A
E E E
E E A A A
A A
 Class Question
• There are so many people, who believe so many
different, inconsistent things.
• They all think they are right.
• But if one of them is right, then almost
everyone else is wrong.
• You are one of them.
• What are the chances that you are, in fact,
right; that all your beliefs are true, and that it is
only other people who have delusions?
 Wise words from
the philosopher
G. K. Chesterton
(1874-1936)

• “In one sense, and that the

eternal sense, the thing is
plain. The answer to the
question ‘What is Wrong?’ is,
or should be, ‘I am wrong.’
Until a man can give that
answer his idealism is only a
hobby.”
• How might we, living in the
modern day, look back at
Chesterton and say that yes,
he was indeed wrong?
• What are the lessons in this
for us?