Why Could the Earth Be Flat?
When we first hear about the flat Earth theory, our initial reaction is usually to think that it is nothing more than a group of crazy conspiracy theorists. That was also our reaction when we first encountered this idea. In fact, we spoke with friends who are physicists, and they explained several calculations regarding the Earth's approximately spherical shape, and at the time their explanations seemed coherent to us. As time went on, however, we began to reflect on a crucial question: to what extent does what we know about space come from our own personal experience, and to what extent do we simply trust institutions? Throughout history, it was common for priests to climb mountains or enter caves to receive messages from the gods, and the people accepted those messages without any possibility of verification. Today, the priests are scientists, who use instruments, telescopes, and a technical language that only they have access to, while many ordinary people simply pretend to un...
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