Once upon a time, the people in the East imagined the Earth to be a disc floating in the water with an arched dome in which were embedded the stars, the Moon, and the Sun. Xenophanes of Colophon, a famous poet from the 5th century, believed that the Earth was flat, with its upper side touching the air, and the lower side extending without limit. It was only when philosophers like Aristotle came on the scene that the perception of Earth changed. Aristotle noted, during a lunar eclipse, the Earth casts a round shadow on the Moon’s surface, highlighting that only a spherical object always casts a circular shadow. Greek sailors echoed his observations and pointed out that as ships sailed away, the hull disappeared before the sails, suggesting curvature.

If Earth were flat, you would be able to see the same stars in the sky no matter where you look up from; however, as you walk towards the north or the south, the constellations visible to you change. This again suggests that the Earth is a spherical object. However, in recent years, many skeptics, who sometimes go by the term “flat-earthers,” have started questioning the world as we know it. For one, some flat-earthers argue that the stars are relatively close and move in circles above a flat plane. As you travel farther north or south, some stars simply recede beyond your “vanishing point” or get lost in atmospheric haze, just like how objects on the surface seem to vanish over distance. Many flat-Earth models include a “dome” (firmament) overhead. In some versions, the stars are fixed on or embedded in this dome. If the dome itself has curvature or if the stars are on different layers within the dome, traveling north or south could shift which stars are overhead. Many (though not all) flat-earthers posit that the Earth is a stationary, immovable object and that it is, in fact, the Sun, the Moon, and the stars that orbit the Earth. It was only 400 years ago, when Galileo was found “vehemently suspect of heresy” for holding the opinion that it was the Sun, that lies motionless at the center of the universe and that the Earth orbits the Sun.

While a curious mind has always been a friend of science, it seems that in the current century, our curious mind is taking us to places where logic and argument come second to “belief.” It would be a generalization to say that all flat earthers are religious, but it looks like they have borrowed some of their theories from religious teachings. And while pursuing religious knowledge is a matter of personal choice – when your scientific opinion becomes motivated by religious doctrines, it doesn’t allow room for questions. The internet has been one of the most influential inventions of the modern age. What started as a way to efficiently distribute porn has now become a catalyst in harvesting “absolute thinking” in almost all aspects of life. Whether it be politics or the shape of the Earth, the internet has facilitated echo chambers that retort the same reasoning, thinking, and beliefs that you hold. The internet bombards you with information, but it also vitalizes your cognitive biases – such as confirmation bias – our tendency to favor information that confirms our existing beliefs and to discount information that contradicts them. Online platforms consistently show you content that you have indicated you like and trap you in an algorithm that doesn’t expose you to the “other side” of the argument. I think it’s time we stop looking at the internet as an extension of our world and rather as a parallel world. Whatever happens on the internet affects real life, and whatever happens in real life takes a whole other existence on the internet.

A few days ago, a popular flat earth proponent, Jeran Campanella, who has his own YouTube channel titled “Jeranism,” traveled all the way to Antarctica to test out a popular component of the flat earth theory. Flat Earthers essentially believe that the North Pole lies at the centre of the Earth and it is surrounded by continents. The Earth is a disc and wherever there is no land, there is water. However, since the water needs a container so that it does not spill over, Antarctica is the wall that runs along the edge of the disc.

They believe that since the Earth is flat, the Sun rises and sets at the back of this wall. However, according to scientists, since the Earth is a globe, the Sun doesn’t set in Antarctica as the Sun hovers over the top owing to the orbiting of the Earth. When Campanella visited Antarctica, he was surprised to see that the Sun atop was not fake and that it, contrary to his beliefs, did not set. In fact, he observed that the Moon did not set either and stayed in the sky all of 24 hours. “Sometimes you are wrong in life. I thought there was no 24-hour Sun. In fact, I was pretty sure of it,” admitted Campanella on his channel.

In my opinion, Campanella is a stand-up guy. Modern-day humans have become so inundated with information that many of us have grown lazy in our pursuit of true knowledge. But let me cut humanity some slack—sometimes it’s nearly impossible to determine which information is disingenuous and which is authentic. It’s easy to let our confirmation bias run wild when what we see is so cleverly presented that it strengthens our existing beliefs. However, critical thinking will always be a human burden. Just as Sisyphus is doomed to carry the stone to the top only to see it fall and then to take it up again, humans are cursed to continually introspect. Unlike other animals, we humans possess an extraordinary capacity for logic, reason, and reflection. Yet this very strength becomes a burden when we have to seek the validity of every new idea—particularly in a world perfectly designed to keep us in our silos. By continuing to use our critical faculties, we have to bear the weight of dismantling the false from the truth. This mental labor can be exhausting, but it remains one of our defining traits as a species and a crucial factor in our ongoing evolution.