No earthly reason to flatly disbelieve

That antediluvian ideas still persist in the age of reason is known. There are all kinds of beliefs flying around, but the recent move of an American rapper to crowdfund at least $1 million to send up a satellite to debunk the "theory" that the Earth is round must rank as among the most airy-fairy.

Though the rapper is still about $998,000 short of his target, he is one among a surprisingly large number of people — especially in so-called developed nations — who believe the Earth is flat and everything that is put forth to prove otherwise is a conspiracy.

While Pythagoras and Ptolemy and the shadow of the earth during lunar eclipses may not be enough to convince hardline flat-earthers, rejecting the authenticity of photographic evidence from space too demonstrates a high degree of self-delusion.

What remains unanswered by this group is what the other lot — the majority — have to gain by repeatedly demonstrating the Earth is round. And flat-earthers certainly sound like they are going over the edge when their answer to what lies at the end of the world is, "At this point in time, the Flat Earth Society only concerns itself with the known Earth, not what may or may not lie beyond." Unfortunately, it does not seem likely that they will come round to believing the truth, no matter what scientific evidence is offered.