NASA scientist and flat-earther spent 24 hours locked in a room together to settle one huge debate
Most people accept that the Earth is round, and it's not just astronauts who have viewed it from space who will attest to that. Of course, there are those who claim astronauts are lying because they’re sure we've never actually been to space, but that's a whole different realm of conspiracy theories.
There are scientific papers, experiment videos, and whole documentaries like Netflix's Behind the Curve that continue to present evidence proving the Earth isn't flat, and yet, flat-earthers remain steadfast in their convictions.
As you can imagine, things got pretty heated when YouTuber Jack Gordon locked flat-earther Nathan Thompson and NASA-affiliated scientist Dr. Gold in a room to hash out their difference of opinion.
For those who've seen Behind the Curve, you might remember Thompson for appearing in the 2018 documentary. Gordon's idea was to lock the pair in a room until one of them changes their mind.
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For starters, Thompson claims that 'they' (the likes of NASA) are hiding a flat Earth from us, arguing that space missions are secretly being filmed underwater.
Moving somewhat off the topic of flat Earth, he goes on to say that NASA is 'laundering' $70 million a day so it can have control over what the general public perceives about the cosmos.
Dr. Gold reminds Thompson that the view you get of solar or lunar eclipses is that the Sun and the Moon are round, but as the latter says he doesn't believe in space, that argument is quickly rebuffed.
Thompson went on to explain how he could still explain the night and day cycle with a flat Earth, also maintaining that we get seasons because the Sun's path expands or contracts around the tropics.
11 hours in, Thompson showed off some of his flat Earth merch that includes everything from themed flip-flops to what he thinks is the world's only flat Earth guitar.
Heading to the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, Dr. Gold had his own experiment to try and prove the Earth is round with the help of a Foucault pendulum.
Created by French physicist Léon Foucault in 1851, the pendulum aims to provide direct proof of the Earth's rotation, because as the Earth rotates beneath the swinging bob, the pendulum's path appears to slowly shift as time progresses.
As we headed toward the end of the 24 hours and Thompson still seemed unconvinced, he claimed that he had flat-earther friends at Elon Musk's SpaceX, inviting him to see further proof that the Earth is flat. He then tried to show there are more flat-earthers out there than you'd think, shouting out for support in the Griffith Observatory.
So how did things end?
Gordon summarized that neither was going to change their mind, although Thompson admitted: "You guys are two of the coolest globers I've done any filming with or YouTube videos."
Dr. Gold added: "It's been very eye-opening...I still think the Earth is a globe. I'm a big believer in community. As long as the community is around a belief that isn't harming other people, I'm totally cool. You guys can believe what you want to believe.\'
With a friendly handshake between the flat-earther and the 'glober', everyone went their separate ways.
