I actually just came across the flat-earth "conspiracy theory" a few weeks ago. I was like "What the actual F"!!!?? There are people who believe the earth is flat?!?!? Are you kidding me????? After many, many hours of research I can honestly say that I am not convinced the earth is a globe. I don't know what to believe anymore. I can't observe the curvature of the earth where I think it should be. Flat earthers use this formula for the expected curvature of the earth relative to the observer - 8 inches per mile squared (8*(miles^2)). I have seen it debated heavily that this formula is oversimplified. Globers argue that it is only accurate up to around 100 miles, then it becomes several inches off. That's a silly argument though, because at 100 miles the expected curvature would be a drop of 100 squared * 8 inches (80,000 inches / 12 = 6,666 feet). Inches don't matter at that point. You don't need to go up to or beyond 100 miles to reasonably observe the curvature of the earth. I have seen several videos of experiments using various lights over vast distances (over 50 miles). I don't understand how they are visible and measurable over great distances as these lights and the people shining them and the ground they are standing on should be completely obscured by the curvature of the earth relative to the observer... and yet they are clearly visible. There are versions of this that compensate for the height of the observer as well.
Interesting. I think this is a very fun topic. I approached an engineer and very well-rounded person I know to get their take on some of these arguments. He has been very fascinated to explore the radical ideas of flat earth. He hasn't been able to disprove it, yet. He also doesn't buy into it as he is a big fan of the ISS. I haven't shown him all the videos attempting to debunk the ISS (showing the harnesses/wires, green screen glitches, bubbles in space, etc). It's interesting to see the varied beliefs around here. For example, there are undoubtedly many who believe we never went to the moon but still believe the earth is a globe.
Very interesting stuff. I don't think it's useful to just dismiss people who believe in the flat earth as shills, dumb, or gullible. Being that this a Q forum, much of the population of the earth would ridicule you for being a "qanon moron". I don't think attacking one another is useful at all. I'm undecided on this point, but it is very fascinating. One certainly should not believe in flat earth because some person who appears to be very intelligent made videos about why the earth is flat, and they have done thousands of hours of research and are totally convinced it is true.
Confirmation bias can be incredibly challenging to overcome and observe in ourselves. It is an overwhelmingly powerful force that shapes our perception of everything. Most people will never admit to theirs, or be open to admit that their reality is shaped by it. It's that powerful. One must be open to all arguments and perspectives. If you take in all the arguments of flat earth (there are TONS, I'm sure I haven't seen them all), some very powerful questions will be raised in the minds of most people. Sure, most people aren't scientists... but the very worst case scenario is that more people study science and learn more things. I think it's a healthy question. Science isn't science unless everything within it can be challenged.