If you were able to look through the perspective of a person who thinks the world is flat, you would see this. The North Pole is right here in the center. The continents splayed out over this plane. And here on the edges, you would run into a 150-foot wall of ice guarded by NASA employees with guns. And how far that ice goes outwards. And when people try to go down there, they get turned away at gunpoint and put in prison. The heavens are a dome that arcs over the flat Earth. The sun, the moon, the stars, they're all just little balls of light in the sky that move around just above the Earth's surface. There are loads of people who actually believe this. YouTube channels and Facebook pages, you'll see hundreds of thousands of followers. Google searches for the term flat Earth proof over time look like this. It's become incredibly popular. And recently a poll showed that only 84% of Americans agree with the statement, I have always believed the world is round. 84%. And if you're 18 to 24, that's more like 66%, which is like dangerously close to half. What is going on here? Now the North Pole is the center of a deep ocean, whereas the South Pole is the center of a high plateau, which averages 7 or 8,000 feet in altitude. This is frustrating and what's even more frustrating is every time I try to look into this and understand it, all I see is coverage of like flat Earther conventions and like interviews with these people. We absolutely know for a fact, this ain't it. These interviews are interesting, but I want to understand like how someone with a thinking brain can actually get behind this. What is this actual belief? Where does it come from and how do potentially millions of people believe that the Earth is flat? The water is completely flat for as far as we can see and as far as we've measured. And the horizon is completely flat. I'm in Mexico now. I've been sitting on the beach reading everything there is to read about the history of people who believe the Earth is flat. And there's one thing that I just had to try for myself. This is a simple experiment that anybody can conduct to uh determine definitely that the Earth is flat. Grab a spirit level and take it on a plane with you. Found this hardware store. Bought myself a level. One of the stranger things I've ever done. And I'm bringing it with me on the airplane. I'm going to do some of this empirical science myself. If you are to fly on a non rotating Earth, please explain what kind of experience will a pilot really have? The logic goes that if the Earth is round and I'm flying thousands of miles, which I'm about to do, then the airplane will have to be tipped a little bit the whole time in order to make it around the curvature of the Earth. The plane should be constantly dipping its nose forward in order to compensate for the curvature. Show me some planes doing this. I would be able to see the tilt of the airplane if I put my newly purchased level on the tray table in front of me. I'm going to take my spirit level onto the plane. If my tool shows me that the plane is totally level, that's proof that the Earth is flat. Let's go see what happens. Can somebody explain to me duty free? Why perfume? Why is there so much perfume in duty free? Four hours on an airplane and I'm back. My little level experiment worked wonderfully. The bubble stayed nice and center. Turns out the plane was not dipping its nose in order to make it around the Earth. This is explained by the basics of gravity and physics. This video is not a debunk of flat Earth theory. That that doesn't need to happen. That shouldn't need to happen. What this is is my fascination with the fact that there is lots of people, let's put it this way, a non-zero number of humans who think the world is flat and they work really hard to prove it. I want to understand what sorts of tools are being used to prove the world is flat. So, here we go. I wonder if I can get some really dramatic like conspiracy theory lighting going on here. I'm seeing all the evidence. What if the earth actually is flat? The plane wasn't dipping. The level was flat. Okay, I'm kidding. Let's get into this. I've been in the weeds learning about the flat Earth experience, what people believe and why and where it all came from. And here's what I've learned. Number one, flat Earthers have become a thing just in the past couple hundred years. So, by like 205 BC, you've got these really smart Greek people making experiments that are like observing a globe-shaped Earth. Over the next several centuries, eventually this would just become the widespread thing among anyone who was doing experimentation on the world. And eventually, nobody believed the Earth was flat. Even in like the medieval times, like it was a consensus that the Earth was a globe. So, in short, flat Earthers weren't a thing during this time. Even though literally in elementary school, I was taught that Christopher Columbus and like his voyage was somehow to prove that the Earth was round or maybe it was flat and that there was like some debate around that. That's actually a total legend and I have no idea why I was taught that in elementary school. How did that happen? I actually am genuinely curious. Like, how did that happen? The fact is Christopher Columbus, the Catholic Church, the Spanish patrons, no one thought the Earth was flat. But then they became a thing. Any sort of flat Earther movement didn't actually come around ironically until science was really starting to heat up. During the mid-1800s, a huge amount of scientific breakthrough was happening. The scientific method was taking off and huge breakthroughs in biology, physics, anatomy, and mathematics were taking place. But at the time, there were also people who were becoming uncomfortable with how advanced scientific methods were getting. These guys were like, hold on a second. You have all these fancy new tools to inquire the world and to understand reality, but these tools are getting like too sophisticated and too abstract and theoretical. They're becoming too disconnected from like what I can see and understand and touch and feel. They wanted to bring science back to what it had been for a really long time, which is that like a person goes out, uses simple tools like a telescope to look at the world and to make conclusions about how the world works. So, it's the summer of 1838 in England up in the county of Cambridgeshire, which literally sounds like a place in The Lord of the Rings. So, it's the summer of 1838 and the atom had just been discovered and the Doppler effect is like being fleshed out. And then you've got this guy. His name is Samuel Rowbotham, but he goes by the pseudonym Parallax, which is actually a pretty dope name. Like if I were a DJ, I would totally go with like Parallax. Anyway, Parallax decides even though all this science is happening, he thinks it's time to reopen up the debate about whether or not the Earth is a globe, which was like literally settled thousands of years earlier. But he's like, no, let's do it. He finds this canal system that is incredibly straight. This canal goes on for almost 10 kilometers, like 6 miles of just a straight line. This guy says, if the Earth is a globe and people say it's 25,000 miles in circumference, then if I look at a straight line, after the first mile, the curvature of the Earth would mean that the canal would now be 8 inches lower. After 2 miles, it would be 32 inches lower. After 3 miles, 72 inches lower, meaning like 6 feet, almost 2 meters, and so on. He thinks eventually the dip from the curvature of the Earth would be so great that you could easily observe it. So, he gets in the water, he puts a telescope right above the surface of the water, and then he puts a boat on the canal with a 1 meter tall post on it. So, what he wants to see is if the Earth is curved, if it's a globe, then this post will start to disappear over the horizon. So, he does it. The boat goes away, it goes the entire 6 miles of the canal, and it stays in sight the entire time. It doesn't dip over the horizon. And he's stoked. He's like, man, I just proved that the Earth is flat. And I did it with a telescope and a boat. Like, screw you, science. Like, I'm making breakthroughs right here in Cambridgeshire. And then he writes this book where he flushes out this experiment and several others that he does. But wait, this experiment's like kind of legit, right? Like it adds up. Like his numbers were all correct about the circumference and the dip of the curvature. Like why didn't it dip? Like why was the boat still in sight? There's nothing wrong with this experiment. Parallax, that great name. Maybe he was onto something. No, no, this is stupid. This is like a third grade science experiment in your backyard. This experiment doesn't take into account how the natural world actually works and how light behaves and refracts based on the different air densities. This is like stuff that people already figured out and like Parallax is sitting there getting wet in a canal trying to observe this on his own. No, this is not proving anything. But Parallax didn't want to hear any of this. He didn't want to talk about atmospheric refraction and air density and how light behaves in different media. Too complicated, too abstract. You can't touch and feel that stuff. Instead, Parallax sees science and observing reality as a much simpler task. In his book, he says, 'Nature speaks to us in a peculiar language, in the language of phenomena. She answers at all times the questions which are put to her, and such questions are experiments.' Like, just go out and put a question to Mother Nature and she'll answer it. As scientific methods become more sophisticated, they become harder for you and me to understand. Parallax and his canal experiments are a reaction to all of this. They are a call for a simplification of scientific methods and a return of the senses as the primary force for understanding the world. He called his method of reductionist pseudoscience the Zetetic method. He says that honesty of thought is to look at truth in the face, not in the side face, but in the full front. Like just like look at it, go out and observe it for yourself. He was among several scientists and mathematicians at the time who were on this train of let's use really simplified, reductionist math and science to prove that the Earth is flat. This argument of the flat Earth flickered for a little bit in the 1800s, gained a little bit of traction, but then eventually it died out until just a few years ago. I refuse to be another vegetable. Pseudoscience garbage will to me be unacceptable. Anyone with eyes to see don't have to be susceptible. Dispose of your globe in the nearest waste receptacle. There is no curvature to this earth. There is no motion to this earth. If you just accept the globe model with no understanding of the flat and no clear evidence for the ball earth, do you see the problem there? Flat earthers are back, and their methods are very similar to what Parallax was doing in the 1800s. And this is data. This is repeatable, observable, measurable. If you take the time to learn, you will change your mind. There's there's no doubt. The only reason people think they live on a spinning ball is willful ignorance. They're still zooming into horizons, but now they have hordes of visual stuff to play around with. They now have airplanes. They now have satellite imagery to play around with. They now have the moon landing to dissect. And now they're taking levels onto airplanes like I did. Your plane can't go upside down. Here's the thing, globe hugger. Like the flat earthers in the 1800s, the flat earthers today want to use their own intuition and senses to understand reality. And in the process, they reject and ignore the huge body of science that we all live with today. So, people that have physics degrees, astronomy degrees, they got their degree by regurgitating what their teacher or the books told them. Instead of trigonometry and telescopes and canals, the flat earthers today use videos and photos circulating on the internet. The azimuthal equidistant projection map that the USGS actually uses is the flat Earth map. Wait, did he just say azimuthal equidistant projection? That's like my favorite projection. Is that the flat Earth map? Don't with me and projections. I take them very seriously. In true internet fashion, this new current movement of flat earthers has become just a bunch of bumper sticker type assertions and images that are really easy to share. Just like Parallax's experiment, these methodologies completely ignore the way the natural world is observed to work by like thousands of years of scientific consensus. But if you go to the FAQ page of the Flat Earth Society, you'll see what they're after here. They believe that evidence is, quote, relying on your own senses to discern the true nature of the world around us. That's the best evidence. And in that vein, that's what these people are doing. I mean, so in the physics world today, do they not understand that convex lenses or fisheye lenses or GoPro add a distorted view? So, what have I learned from all of this? From my understanding, the flat earther movement, whether from the 1800s or today on the internet, is actually not totally about the shape of the Earth. This movement has a much broader message built into it. There's a reason why 1984 is like in the canon of the flat earther movement. 1984 has nothing to do with the shape of the Earth. What it does have to do with is being skeptical of big institutions that are probably watching you, that are probably controlling your life, that are probably feeding you bad information to retain power. We're not crazy, we're just sick of the lies. Here's the thing. Most of the knowledge we have about the natural world and the universe, we've never seen. We've never seen exoplanets or the deep space telescopes that tell us so much about our universe. Instead, we read about this stuff. We benefit from its findings. We pay our taxes to fund more of it. Science is like a tall tower, and each individual researcher and institution adds a little brick to that tower. Each brick resting on the one below it. No one person sees or understands all of the bricks. Instead, we have a system of debate, review, scrutiny that only allows the most accurate information to be added to the tower. And honestly, I don't think humans are well suited to adapt to this very impersonal way of understanding the world. We have evolved over millions of years with our senses as our main driver of survival. And now we live in a society that is run by big systems and impersonal institutions that we will never touch and feel, much less understand. And that's why we have people who believe the world is flat despite conclusive evidence to the contrary. This belief is a proxy for a much larger paradigm that mistrusts anything that you can't touch and feel. And so yeah, I'm really sad that only 84% of people can say with certainty that they've always believed the world is a globe. And that's 64% for younger people. Only 64% of people. Like that that just blows my mind and it's incredibly sad. But despite this belief, this movement, these conventions, this total lunacy, science will continue to do its thing. It will continue to go out, observe the world with these amazing tools that we have, come back, debate it, and add to this tower of knowledge that helps us see the world as it really is. I want to thank Skillshare for sponsoring this video. Skillshare is this amazing giant repository of online tutorials where you can learn everything you can imagine from photography to design to illustration to character animation to filmmaking to entrepreneurship, all the things. And you get unlimited access to the entire library if you subscribe. You get two months free to Skillshare if you click the link in my description. You should check out this course on the fundamentals of photo editing. Photo editing is truly a craft. And with a little bit of training, you can dramatically change how your photos look and feel, both from just simple mobile photography all the way to advanced professional photography. Having these fundamentals in your toolkit will help you make better images. So, click the link in the description to sign up for two months for free. Like you literally don't pay any money for two months. You can test it out and see if you like it. After that, I think it's like less than 10 bucks a month if you subscribe to the yearly, which 10 bucks, like 10 bucks to have access to this giant repository of tutorials is like a no-brainer to me. So, I love Skillshare, I love internet learning. Go check it out. Thank you for watching this video, and I'll be back soon with some more stuff. See ya.
A view of the spherical Earth from space is shown with a vintage film effect, then transitions to an antique-style flat Earth map.
"If you were able to look through the perspective of a person who thinks the world is flat, you would see this."
Setting: outer space — natural, simulating sunlight on Earth
The camera zooms into the center of the antique flat Earth map, highlighting the North Pole.
"The North Pole is right here in the center. The continents splayed out over this plane."
Setting: archival context — even, soft light
Text: "MAP OF THE SQUARE AND STATIONARY EARTH"
A montage of images is shown: a sailboat near a massive ice wall, then a screenshot of a website article titled 'Antarctica Proves The Flat Earth Deception' featuring a red icebreaker ship next to an ice wall.
"And here on the edges, you would run into a 150-foot wall of ice guarded by NASA employees with guns."
Setting: Antarctica (implied) — cool, natural daylight
Text: "Antarctica Proves The Flat Earth Deception"
A digitally rendered image shows a flat, disc-shaped Earth with mountains and waterfalls pouring off the edge, under a large celestial dome.
"The heavens are a dome that arcs over the flat Earth."
Setting: conceptual space — bright, ethereal
A montage of different flat earth model animations. One shows the sun and moon orbiting over the disc; another shows a glass-like dome with stars, sun, and moon inside.
"they're all just little balls of light in the sky that move around just above the Earth's surface."
Setting: conceptual space — internal to the animation
The narrator, a man in a red puffer jacket, looks directly into the camera with a serious expression.
"There are loads of people who actually believe this."
Setting: home office — soft, natural light from a window to the right.
People (1):
• standing, facing camera, wearing red North Face puffer jacket over a black shirt, brown, styled up hair — serious, slightly furrowed brow, has a beard
A screen recording shows a Google search for 'flat earth' and then a Google Trends graph illustrating a sharp increase in searches for 'flat earth proof' starting around 2015.
"Google searches for the term flat Earth proof over time look like this."
Setting: computer screen — digital screen glow
Text: "flat earth", "Interest over time"
A YouGov poll result is shown on screen. The narrator highlights the 84% figure with a red circle and arrow.
"And recently a poll showed that only 84% of Americans agree with the statement, I have always believed the world is round."
Setting: computer screen — digital screen glow
Text: "1. Do you believe that the world is round or flat?", "I have always believed the world is round", "84%"
The YouGov poll is shown again, this time broken down by age. The narrator highlights the '18-24' column and the '66%' figure with red boxes.
"And if you're 18 to 24, that's more like 66%, which is like dangerously close to half."
Setting: computer screen — digital screen glow
Text: "18-24", "66"
The narrator looks at the camera with a bewildered and concerned expression, shaking his head slightly.
"What is going on here?"
Setting: home office — soft, natural light
People (1):
• standing, facing camera, wearing red North Face puffer jacket, brown, styled up hair — confused, concerned, eyes wide
Black and white archival footage of a military officer pointing to a map and explaining the geography of the poles. This is intercut with old footage of ships in icy waters.
"Now the North Pole is the center of a deep ocean, whereas the South Pole is the center of a high plateau, which averages 7 or 8,000 feet in altitude."
Setting: archival film set — studio lighting of the era
People (1):
• standing, gesturing, wearing military uniform with medals, short, dark hair — serious, speaking
The narrator is back in his home office, speaking with a frustrated tone and gesturing with his hands.
"and what's even more frustrating is every time I try to look into this and understand it, all I see is coverage of like flat Earther conventions and like interviews with these people."
Setting: home office — soft, natural light
People (1):
• standing, facing camera, wearing red North Face puffer jacket, brown, styled up hair — frustrated, speaking earnestly
The narrator continues speaking in his office, expressing his desire for deeper understanding beyond surface-level interviews.
"This ain't it. These interviews are interesting, but I want to understand like how someone with a thinking brain can actually get behind this."
Setting: home office — daylight from a window
People (1):
• standing, wearing red North Face puffer jacket, brown, styled up hair — questioning, serious
A montage of serene travel scenes: a person standing on a beach at sunset, the narrator driving a car, a view of the ocean from a balcony, a woman reading by the sea.
"The water is completely flat for as far as we can see and as far as we've measured. And the horizon is completely flat."
Setting: tropical beach location — natural, golden hour
People (1):
• sitting, driving, wearing green t-shirt, brown hair — neutral, focused on driving
The narrator films himself selfie-style, walking outside an airport in a sunny, tropical location. He is wearing a large straw hat.
"I'm in Mexico now. I've been sitting on the beach reading everything there is to read about the history of people who believe the Earth is flat."
Setting: Mexico airport — bright, harsh sunlight
People (1):
• walking, wearing green t-shirt, brown hair — speaking to camera, squinting in the sun
A split screen shows a man in a red shirt explaining the experiment via video call, while the narrator is shown going to a hardware store in Mexico.
"This is a simple experiment that anybody can conduct to uh determine definitely that the Earth is flat. Grab a spirit level and take it on a plane with you."
Setting: office / Mexico street — indoor fluorescent / bright daylight
People (1):
• sitting, wearing red t-shirt, short, dark, balding hair — serious, speaking directly to camera
Text: "MATERIALES PARA CONSTRUCCION Y FERRETERIA"
First-person view of the narrator buying an orange spirit level at a hardware store counter.
"Found this hardware store. Bought myself a level."
Setting: hardware store — bright, indoor lighting
People (1):
• sitting behind counter, wearing blue shirt, dark hair — partially visible
The narrator, wearing his straw hat, speaks to the camera selfie-style while walking towards the airport terminal.
"And I'm bringing it with me on the airplane. I'm going to do some of this empirical science myself."
Setting: airport exterior — bright sunlight
People (1):
• walking, wearing green t-shirt, brown hair — determined, speaking
The narrator explains the logic of the experiment while making a tipping motion with his hand. An animation of a toy plane flying around a small globe illustrates the concept.
"The logic goes that if the Earth is round and I'm flying thousands of miles, which I'm about to do, then the airplane will have to be tipped a little bit the whole time in order to make it around the curvature of the Earth."
Setting: airport exterior / conceptual space — bright sunlight / dim animation lighting
People (1):
• walking, wearing green t-shirt, brown hair — explaining, looking at camera
A chart titled 'Automated Calculator For The Curvature Of The Earth' is displayed, showing calculations for the Earth's curve over distance.
"The plane should be constantly dipping its nose forward in order to compensate for the curvature."
Setting: digital graphic — even
Text: "Automated Calculator For The Curvature Of The Earth"
The narrator, still outside the airport, explains his plan, gesturing with his hand to indicate the level on a flat surface.
"I would be able to see the tilt of the airplane if I put my newly purchased level on the tray table in front of me."
Setting: airport — bright sunlight
People (1):
• walking, wearing green t-shirt, brown hair — explaining, confident
A quick montage shows the narrator walking through the airport: on an escalator, going through security, and walking through the duty-free shop.
"Let's go see what happens."
Setting: airport — bright, fluorescent
People (1):
• walking, wearing green t-shirt, brown hair — looking around
Text: "Security control"
The airplane is shown taking off from the runway, as seen from a passenger window.
Setting: airplane — daylight
A close-up shot of the orange spirit level placed on the airplane tray table. The bubble is perfectly centered.
Setting: airplane cabin — dim, ambient cabin light
The narrator is walking through an airport arrival hall, looking tired but speaking to the camera selfie-style.
"Four hours on an airplane and I'm back."
Setting: airport — bright, fluorescent
People (1):
• walking, wearing red long-sleeve shirt, brown hair — tired, speaking
The narrator continues walking through the airport, explaining the result of his experiment with a slightly sarcastic tone.
"The bubble stayed nice and center. Turns out the plane was not dipping its nose in order to make it around the Earth."
Setting: airport — fluorescent
People (1):
• walking, wearing red long-sleeve shirt, brown hair — speaking, slight smirk
The narrator is now in a different part of the airport, continuing his explanation. He looks more serious.
"This is explained by the basics of gravity and physics."
Setting: airport — fluorescent
People (1):
• walking, wearing red long-sleeve shirt, brown hair — serious, explaining
Text: "International Arrivals"
The narrator continues his monologue while walking through the airport, emphasizing his fascination with the psychology of the flat earth movement.
"What this is is my fascination with the fact that there is lots of people, let's put it this way, a non-zero number of humans who think the world is flat and they work really hard to prove it."
Setting: airport — fluorescent
People (1):
• walking, wearing red long-sleeve shirt, brown hair — intrigued, speaking thoughtfully
A time-lapse shows the narrator setting up a studio space with a black backdrop, acoustic foam panels, and a large studio light.
Setting: studio space — room lighting, then bright studio light turns on
People (1):
• moving around, setting up, wearing red puffer jacket and light blue jeans, brown hair — focused on work
The narrator sits in the newly set-up studio against a black background. He acts out a moment of conspiratorial realization, looking around nervously.
"I'm seeing all the evidence. What if the earth actually is flat?"
Setting: studio — dramatic key light from the side
People (1):
• sitting, acting, wearing red puffer jacket, brown hair — wide-eyed, feigning shock and paranoia
The narrator breaks character, smiles, and addresses the camera directly, explaining the purpose of the rest of the video.
"Okay, I'm kidding. Let's get into this. I've been in the weeds learning about the flat Earth experience, what people believe and why and where it all came from."
Setting: studio — dramatic key light
People (1):
• sitting, facing camera, wearing red puffer jacket, brown hair — smiling, then becoming serious and explanatory
A title card appears on a black screen with a vintage film effect.
"Number one, flat Earthers have become a thing just in the past couple hundred years."
Setting: digital graphic — N/A
Text: "UNDERSTANDING FLAT EARTHERS", "1. FLAT EARTHERS ARE A NEW THING"
A montage of historical illustrations and maps related to ancient Greek astronomy and geography.
"So, by like 205 BC, you've got these really smart Greek people making experiments that are like observing a globe-shaped Earth."
Setting: archival context — even
The narrator continues his explanation from the studio, emphasizing the historical consensus on a spherical Earth.
"Even in like the medieval times, like it was a consensus that the Earth was a globe."
Setting: studio — dramatic key light
People (1):
• sitting, wearing red puffer jacket, brown hair — speaking with conviction
A graphic from the History Channel appears, stating that Columbus did not set out to prove the Earth was round.
"That's actually a total legend and I have no idea why I was taught that in elementary school."
Setting: digital graphic — N/A
Text: "Christopher Columbus Never Set Out to Prove the Earth was Round", "Humans have known the earth is round for thousands of years."
A title card appears on a black screen with a vintage film effect.
Setting: digital graphic — N/A
Text: "UNDERSTANDING FLAT EARTHERS", "#2 FLAT EARTHERS CROP UP IN THE 1800S"
A rapid montage of 19th-century scientific diagrams and illustrations, covering topics like anatomy, physics, and architecture.
"and huge breakthroughs in biology, physics, anatomy, and mathematics were taking place."
Setting: archival context — even
A montage of black and white photos of stern-looking 19th-century men with beards. This is followed by more scientific illustrations.
"These guys were like, hold on a second. You have all these fancy new tools to inquire the world and to understand reality,"
Setting: archival context — studio lighting / even lighting
People (1):
• formal portrait pose, wearing 19th-century formal wear, varied, with beards hair — serious, stern
The narrator speaks in the studio, then the video cuts to historical illustrations of early scientists using simple tools like telescopes.
"They wanted to bring science back to what it had been for a really long time, which is that like a person goes out, uses simple tools like a telescope to look at the world and to make conclusions about how the world works."
Setting: studio / archival context — dramatic key light / even
People (1):
• sitting, wearing red puffer jacket, brown hair — explaining
A title card appears on a black screen with a vintage film effect.
Setting: digital graphic — N/A
Text: "UNDERSTANDING FLAT EARTHERS", "#3 THEY DID "EXPERIMENTS""
A Google Earth view zooms into Cambridgeshire, England. The narrator makes a joke, followed by a quick clip from The Lord of the Rings.
"up in the county of Cambridgeshire, which literally sounds like a place in The Lord of the Rings."
Setting: England — natural
Text: "Google Earth"
A black and white portrait of Samuel Rowbotham is shown, with his pseudonym 'PARALLAX' written below it.
"And then you've got this guy. His name is Samuel Rowbotham, but he goes by the pseudonym Parallax, which is actually a pretty dope name."
Setting: archival photo — studio lighting
People (1):
• portrait pose, wearing dark 19th-century coat, white and dark, receding hair — serious, looking slightly off-camera
Text: ""PARALLAX""
A Google Earth view shows the long, straight Bedford Level canal in Cambridgeshire, England.
"He finds this canal system that is incredibly straight. This canal goes on for almost 10 kilometers, like 6 miles of just a straight line."
Setting: Cambridgeshire, England — natural daylight
Text: "Google Earth"
A simple black and white line animation demonstrates the concept of Earth's curvature. A straight line representing sight is shown above a curved line representing the Earth's surface.
"after the first mile, the curvature of the Earth would mean that the canal would now be 8 inches lower."
Setting: digital graphic — N/A
Text: "1.", "8 IN."
A series of simple animations illustrates the setup of the Bedford Level experiment: a telescope on a tripod at the water's edge, and a boat with a post on it.
"So, he gets in the water, he puts a telescope right above the surface of the water, and then he puts a boat on the canal with a 1 meter tall post on it."
Setting: digital graphic — N/A
Text: "1 METER"
An animation shows the expected result on a curved Earth (boat dipping) versus the observed result on a flat line (boat stays visible).
"and it stays in sight the entire time. It doesn't dip over the horizon."
Setting: digital graphic — N/A
Text: "(6 MILES)"
The narrator, in the studio, acts out Parallax's excitement with an enthusiastic and triumphant expression.
"And he's stoked. He's like, man, I just proved that the Earth is flat. And I did it with a telescope and a boat."
Setting: studio — dramatic key light
People (1):
• sitting, leaning forward, wearing red puffer jacket, brown hair — excited, smiling, triumphant
Pages from Samuel Rowbotham's book 'Zetetic Astronomy: Earth Not a Globe' are shown, featuring diagrams of his experiments.
"And then he writes this book where he flushes out this experiment and several others that he does."
Setting: archival context — even
Text: "ZETETIC ASTRONOMY.", "EARTH IS NOT A GLOBE!"
The narrator, back in the studio, dismisses the experiment with a frustrated and exasperated expression, shaking his head.
"No, no, this is stupid. This is like a third grade science experiment in your backyard."
Setting: studio — dramatic key light
People (1):
• sitting, wearing red puffer jacket, brown hair — annoyed, dismissive
A scientific diagram illustrates atmospheric refraction, showing how light from the sun bends as it passes through the Earth's atmosphere, making celestial objects appear higher than they are.
"This experiment doesn't take into account how the natural world actually works and how light behaves and refracts based on the different air densities."
Setting: digital graphic — N/A
Text: "Viewer", "Earth", "Apparent direction of sun"
The narrator explains Parallax's mindset, emphasizing his rejection of complex scientific concepts.
"But Parallax didn't want to hear any of this. He didn't want to talk about atmospheric refraction and air density and how light behaves in different media. Too complicated, too abstract."
Setting: studio — dramatic key light
People (1):
• sitting, wearing red puffer jacket, brown hair — serious, explaining
A quote from Parallax's book is shown on screen, highlighted in yellow.
"Nature speaks to us in a peculiar language, in the language of phenomena. She answers at all times the questions which are put to her, and such questions are experiments."
Setting: digital graphic of a book page — N/A
Text: "Nature speaks to us in a peculiar language; in the language of phenomena. She answers at all times the questions which are put to her; and such questions are experiments."
Another quote from Parallax's book is highlighted, emphasizing his philosophy of direct, sensory observation.
"He says that honesty of thought is to look at truth in the face, not in the side face, but in the full front."
Setting: digital graphic of a book page — N/A
Text: "Honesty of thought is to look truth in the face, not in the side face, but in the full front"
The narrator summarizes the mindset of early flat-earthers, gesturing to simplify the concept.
"let's use really simplified, reductionist math and science to prove that the Earth is flat."
Setting: studio — dramatic key light
People (1):
• sitting, wearing red puffer jacket, brown hair — explaining
A clip from an 'All Gas No Brakes' video shows a man at a flat earth convention rapping into a microphone.
"until just a few years ago. I refuse to be another vegetable. Pseudoscience garbage will to me be unacceptable."
Setting: flat earth convention — fluorescent
People (1):
• standing, wearing black polo shirt, long, dark hair — rapping passionately
Text: "ALL GAS NO BRAKES"
A title card appears on a black screen with a glitchy, digital distortion effect.
Setting: digital graphic — N/A
Text: "UNDERSTANDING FLAT EARTHERS", "#5 WHAT'S THIS REALLY ABOUT?"
The cover of George Orwell's novel '1984' is shown, featuring a large eye graphic.
"There's a reason why 1984 is like in the canon of the flat earther movement. 1984 has nothing to do with the shape of the Earth."
Setting: digital graphic — N/A
Text: "GEORGE ORWELL", "1984"
A simple animation shows a tower being built brick by brick. One brick is highlighted, then shown resting on the bricks below it.
"Science is like a tall tower, and each individual researcher and institution adds a little brick to that tower. Each brick resting on the one below it."
Setting: digital graphic — N/A
The narrator speaks directly to the camera from the studio with a serious expression.
"Most of the knowledge we have about the natural world and the universe, we've never seen."
Setting: studio — dramatic key light
People (1):
• sitting, wearing red puffer jacket, brown hair — serious, contemplative
A montage of screenshots from scientific websites and articles about NASA research, exoplanets, and climate models.
"Instead, we read about this stuff. We benefit from its findings. We pay our taxes to fund more of it."
Setting: computer screen — digital screen glow
Text: "How Earth Climate Models Can Help Scientists Search for Life on Other Planets", "How Important is NASA Research? The World Depends on It—And So Do You"
The narrator concludes his point about the psychology behind the flat earth belief, looking earnestly at the camera.
"This belief is a proxy for a much larger paradigm that mistrusts anything that you can't touch and feel."
Setting: studio — dramatic key light
People (1):
• sitting, wearing red puffer jacket, brown hair — earnest, serious
A clip shows a weather balloon ascending, with the camera showing a curved horizon. A person narrates over it, questioning the validity of the image due to lens distortion.
"that's what these people are doing. I mean, so in the physics world today, do they not understand that convex lenses or fisheye lenses or GoPro add a distorted view?"
Setting: high altitude — overcast daylight
A man in a red shirt and backpack is walking through a parking garage, speaking to the camera.
"We're not crazy, we're just sick of the lies."
Setting: parking garage — dim, fluorescent
People (1):
• walking, wearing red t-shirt, dark, balding hair — serious, defiant
The narrator, in his studio, expresses his disappointment at the poll numbers, looking genuinely concerned.
"And that's 64% for younger people. Only 64% of people. Like that that just blows my mind and it's incredibly sad."
Setting: studio — dramatic key light
People (1):
• sitting, wearing red puffer jacket, brown hair — concerned, sad
The narrator gives a concluding thought about the persistence of science despite misinformation.
"But despite this belief, this movement, these conventions, this total lunacy, science will continue to do its thing."
Setting: studio — dramatic key light
People (1):
• sitting, wearing red puffer jacket, brown hair — resolute, speaking with finality
A final, hopeful statement from the narrator, accompanied by inspiring images of scientific tools and discovery.
"It will continue to go out, observe the world with these amazing tools that we have, come back, debate it, and add to this tower of knowledge that helps us see the world as it really is."
Setting: studio — dramatic key light
People (1):
• sitting, wearing red puffer jacket, brown hair — hopeful, looking at camera
The narrator transitions to the sponsorship segment, sitting in his studio space with the lights now fully on.
"I want to thank Skillshare for sponsoring this video."
Setting: studio — bright, even studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, relaxed, wearing red puffer jacket and light blue jeans, brown hair — friendly, smiling
A screen recording of the Skillshare website is shown, highlighting a course on photo editing.
"You should check out this course on the fundamentals of photo editing."
Setting: computer screen — digital screen glow
Text: "Fundamentals of Photo Editing"
The narrator is back in his studio, enthusiastically promoting the Skillshare offer.
"So, click the link in the description to sign up for two months for free. Like you literally don't pay any money for two months. You can test it out and see if you like it."
Setting: studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, wearing red puffer jacket and light blue jeans, brown hair — enthusiastic, smiling
Text: "THE FIRST 500 PEOPLE TO USE THIS LINK WILL GET 2 FREE MONTHS OF SKILLSHARE PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP"
The narrator waves goodbye to the camera, gets up, and walks off-screen.
"Thank you for watching this video, and I'll be back soon with some more stuff. See ya."
Setting: studio — bright studio lighting
People (1):
• sitting, then stands and walks away, wearing red puffer jacket and light blue jeans, brown hair — smiling
A montage of various flat-earth related memes and images are shown, with glitchy transitions.
Setting: digital montage — N/A
Text: "REALITY IS FAKE", "IF EARTH'S CURVATURE EXISTED, FLAT EARTHERS WOULDN'T"
A clip from a YouTube interview shows a man in a blue shirt explaining why he doesn't trust experts with degrees.
"So, people that have physics degrees, astronomy degrees, they got their degree by regurgitating what their teacher or the books told them."
Setting: office/conference room — soft, indoor lighting
People (1):
• sitting at a table, wearing blue polo shirt, dark, styled hair — serious, speaking
Text: "Flat Earth - Former NASA Cyndi Holland Interview with Flat Worth"