A merchandise stall at last year's Flat Earth International Conference in Denver, Colorado
Belief in a flat Earth is becoming fashionable. Scientists and other guardians of common sense are bemoaning this irrational development, yet
we'd be better off seeing it as a very useful indication of deeper societal problems.
The Earth is flat. Okay, so the best available evidence
indicates that it actually isn't, but the
belief that our planet is a flat disc rather than an oblate spheroid has been steadily growing more popular in recent years. According to Google Trends
data, searches for "flat Earth" as a topic have risen significantly since 2014. Meanwhile, a
YouGov poll from 2018 suggested that only 66 percent and 76 percent of 18-24 and 25-34 year-olds "firmly believe" that the planet is round, indicating that this belief is becoming more common with younger American generations.
And to make matters seem even worse, Brazil
hosted a flat Earth conference last Saturday in Sao Paulo. In fact, this wasn't even the first flat Earth conference to have taken place internationally, with last year's gatherings in
Birmingham, UK,
Denver, Colorado and
Edmonton, Alberta suggesting that
flat Earthism is becoming quite the cultural phenomenon.
Unsurprisingly, many figures in the world of science and journalism have despaired at this growth, with dozens of articles being published in recent months ridiculing the flat Earth belief
system and mocking harebrained attempts to 'prove' its
theories. However, while much of the commentary has focused on how shameful and dangerous it must be for humanity that flat Earthism is gaining traction, it needs to be said that it's emergence is actually a positive development for science, and for society more generally.
Really?
Yes, because just as symptoms of an illness are useful for letting you know that you have an infection, so too is the rise of flat Earthism useful for indicating that both science and modern-day society are suffering from their own kinds of illnesses.
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