the earth is flat

The competing claim

The Earth appears flat at human scales and local observations, suggesting flat-Earth models may better reflect everyday lived experience than abstract spheroid mathematics.

This claim draws on research showing that humans naturally develop flat or hollow-Earth mental models before being taught otherwise, and misrepresents this as evidence that intuitive perception is a valid epistemic basis for cosmological claims. It diverges from the consensus by conflating naive childhood cognition with empirical truth — a classic appeal to intuition / argument from personal experience fallacy. The Cognitive Psychology source actually documents conceptual change away from flat-Earth models as evidence that scientific education corrects intuitive errors, so invoking it to support flat-Earth intuitions involves cherry-picking: the study's finding that children start with flat models is isolated from its central conclusion that they are subsequently and correctly revised.

Epistry weighs both sides — see the full breakdown in the app.

Sources (25)

• Geodesy and metrology with a transportable optical clock
  Nature Physics · peer_reviewed · 2018-02-09 · credibility 95%
• Equatorial radius of the Earth: A dynamical determination | Bulletin Géodésique (1946-1975) | Springer Nature Link
  link.springer.com · peer_reviewed · 2008-11-07 · credibility 95%
• The determination of the radius of the earth and other geodetic parameters as derived from optical satellite data | Bulletin Géodésique (1946-1975) | Springer Nature Link
  link.springer.com · peer_reviewed · 2009-01-08 · credibility 95%
• (untitled)
  link.springer.com · peer_reviewed · credibility 95%
• Earth Observations from DSCOVR/EPIC Instrument - PMC
  pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov · peer_reviewed · credibility 95%
• A round Earth for climate models
  pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov · peer_reviewed · credibility 95%
• Mental models of the earth: A study of conceptual change in childhood
  Cognitive Psychology · peer_reviewed · 1992-10-01 · credibility 90%
• Defining the form of the Earth with the help of pendulums in 1765–1815 | GEM - International Journal on Geomathematics | Springer Nature Link
  link.springer.com · peer_reviewed · 2025-02-12 · credibility 90%
• Estimating global geodetic parameters using SLR observations to Galileo, GLONASS, BeiDou, GPS, and QZSS | Earth, Planets and Space | Springer Nature Link
  link.springer.com · peer_reviewed · 2019-02-18 · credibility 90%
• Geodesy, Figure of the Earth | Springer Nature Link
  link.springer.com · peer_reviewed · credibility 90%
• Visually discerning the curvature of the Earth - PubMed
  pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov · peer_reviewed · credibility 90%
• [0812.3911v2] Sunsets, tall buildings and the Earth's radius
  arxiv.org · peer_reviewed · 2008-12-20 · credibility 85%
• Disinformation and Echo Chambers: How Disinformation Circulates on Social Media Through Identity-Driven Controversies
  Journal of Public Policy & Marketing · peer_reviewed · 2022-05-18 · credibility 85%
• Earth’s Radius from a Single Sunrise Image: A Classroom-Ready Activity
  arxiv.org · peer_reviewed · credibility 80%
• Heaven and Earth in Ancient Greek Cosmology: From Thales to Heraclides Ponticus | Springer Nature Link
  link.springer.com · peer_reviewed · credibility 80%
• When the Earth Was Flat: Studies in Ancient Greek and Chinese Cosmology | Springer Nature Link
  link.springer.com · peer_reviewed · credibility 80%
• The Dodecahedron, or the Shape of the Earth According to Plato | Springer Nature Link
  link.springer.com · peer_reviewed · credibility 80%
• Aristotle’s Arguments for the Sphericity of the Earth
  link.springer.com · peer_reviewed · credibility 80%
• [2003.08541] Meteorology and Oceanography on a Flat Earth
  ar5iv.labs.arxiv.org · peer_reviewed · credibility 75%
• The “Global” Deception: Flat-Earth Conspiracy Theory between Science and Religion
  mdpi.com · peer_reviewed · 2024-03-25 · credibility 75%
• (untitled)
  arxiv.org · peer_reviewed · credibility 70%
• The<i>Gaia</i>mission
  Astronomy and Astrophysics · report · 2016-09-15 · credibility 50%
• Fractional Brownian Motions, Fractional Noises and Applications
  SIAM Review · report · 1968-10-01 · credibility 50%
• The cosmological constant and dark energy
  Reviews of Modern Physics · report · 2003-04-22 · credibility 50%
• Geographical Variability of the First Baroclinic Rossby Radius of Deformation
  Journal of Physical Oceanography · report · 1998-03-01 · credibility 50%