Spent 2 hours arguing with a flat earther and actually got him to reconsider one thing

I run a little meetup group here in Austin where we debate conspiracy theories for fun, but I was getting nowhere with this one guy who was all in on flat earth. He kept throwing out the same tired arguments about NASA faking photos and the horizon looking flat. Last month I tried a different angle - I brought up how satellite internet works, specifically Starlink. I asked him to explain how a signal can bounce off a curved atmosphere if the earth is flat and rectangular. He got quiet for a minute and then said 'huh, I never thought about that.' It was a small win but it felt huge after months of circular debates. Anyone else found a specific detail like that that made someone pause in a conspiracy argument?

2 comments

2 Comments

susan_wright341h ago

Have you tried bringing up how commercial airline pilots navigate with GPS systems that literally require a round earth model to work? In my experience, when you tie it to something they use or see every day like GPS on their phone it tends to stick better than abstract stuff about satellites. Just my two cents, but practical real world examples usually get more traction than arguing over photos.

fiona98517m ago

Wow, wait - are you seriously saying there are people who actually buy into flat earth but still use GPS every day? I mean, that's wild to me. How do they explain their phone knowing exactly where they are down to a few feet? It's not like it's magic, it's literally based on satellites orbiting a ball. I've had that same conversation with a coworker who thought the whole GPS thing was faked somehow and I just couldn't wrap my head around it. The mental gymnastics must be exhausting for them.