this post was submitted on 20 Dec 2024
16 points (76.7% liked)

Showerthoughts

30017 readers
1008 users here now

A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. Avoid politics
    • 3.1) NEW RULE as of 5 Nov 2024, trying it out
    • 3.2) Political posts often end up being circle jerks (not offering unique perspective) or enflaming (too much work for mods).
    • 3.3) Try c/politicaldiscussion, volunteer as a mod here, or start your own community.
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Ephera@lemmy.ml 3 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

Yeah, the whole Flat Earth stuff is a relative modern re-occurrence.

We've had concrete evidence of a globe Earth and a pretty accurate measurement of the circumference since the 3rd century BC (Erastothenes). ¹
Heliocentrism was theorized by the Ancient Greeks, but we've only had concrete evidence/math since the 16th century (Copernicus). ²

Then in the 19th century, you had the writer Washington Irving who wrote a romanticized biography of Columbus and claimed that folks in the Middle Ages believed the Earth to be flat, which was just not true. ³

And then there was Samuel Rowbotham, another writer who just made up a whole load of bullshit and kind of brought the conspiracy theories underway. ⁴

¹: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Earth
²: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliocentrism
³: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myth_of_the_flat_Earth#Irving's_biography_of_Columbus
⁴: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Rowbotham