you think that with the beautiful photographs that we have of our round
blue planet it would convince any doubters but there are still some who
insist that the world is flat correspondent Mariana van Zeller
discovers more about this fast growing movement in California
I'm Mariana van Zeller and I'm in Southern California to look into a growing movement in America
people who claim the earth is flat they call themselves the flat earthers and
we're here to try to understand what's behind this unconventional view and how
it can affect the rest of us
so what's happening here today why are you here this matters to me
flattered that shows you that you are not a mistake and you were created and
so you have meaning in matter - we're not monkeys floating through space on
the false maxim that testable it's not measurable it's not provable it's not
real how old are you guys just out of curiosity do you think it's a growing
movement yes and we're networking and getting stronger people are realizing it
it's coming out in the media you're hearing the term flatter this is
becoming more normal people are more open-minded to it he's not wrong a
recent survey of Americans found that two percent believe the earth is flat
for the US population as a whole that works out to be over 6.5 million
people even high profile artists and athletes
are getting on board
I want to try to find Mart sergeant who's one of the leaders of the Flat
Earth community nice to see you man mark used to design
video games and run software trainings now he devotes himself full-time to
promoting the Flat Earth with all the attention that you must be Mark Sargent
I am Mark Sargent thanks for meeting us here it's a
pleasure to be here so tell me what is this movement all about this movement is
about changing the world literally you think for the longest time that you live
here but what if it wasn't this what if this was just the illusion yeah we're
gonna open this thing up and the reality look something like this in a nutshell
you have North Pole at the centre the continents splayed out organically on
the sides Antarctica is stretched around the
entire outer edge like an ice ball the Sun in the morning are very very small
and the stars are just lights in the sky a giant planet area which means is built
by somebody someone bigger than us someone better than us do you think it
was a god not my place to say your belief in the earth being flat flies in
the face hundreds of the world not only that we have satellite imagery we have
photos from space and nobody here believes any of that anymore so you
don't believe that people travel in space no oh it's much worse than you
know meaning the only reason NASA was founded in 1958 was to keep this thing
under wraps as best they could be big think of the shockwaves if all of a
sudden you're telling a civilization that this model this is an it anymore
flatters is the last conspiracy anyone ever looks at mark and his fellow flat
earther seem to be pretty convinced that the earth is flat and that we've all
been lied to for all these years but I'm interested in knowing what impact this
might have not only for science but for society at large so we're heading to
meet with an astrophysicist that we hope can answer some of these questions the
universe began about fourteen billion years ago an event that we call the Big
Bang james bullock is a professor of physics and astronomy at the University
of California Irvine he specializes in how galaxies formed did you ever think a
few years ago that you'd be having this discussion for National Geographic it's
frankly shocking we've known for 2,000 years based on observations you can make
with your own eyes that the world is round
they have all the evidence right in front of them and they still choose not
to believe in it you know who knows what motivates people from the inside to
believe these things but science is important science is valuable science
saves lives it makes our lives better and more comfortable and it enriches us
intellectually and to question what scientists are saying and suggested
they're part of some massive international global conspiracy it's
really scary are they a threat to the work that you do as a scientist if say
government stop funding science the cause of some kind of anti science anti
intellectual feedback they're getting from the populace that's when it really
starts getting dangerous for our civilization and as the war on science
heats up some Americans are fighting back we're heading to the largest lake
in California to meet the independent investigations group which is a group
that essentially debunks paranormal claims and they want to do a round earth
task may that be a test that will prove that the earth is not flat but that it
is round let's go we're ready to launch you ready Craig ok so what's happening
here right now okay this is the boat base target it's horizontal stripes
we're gonna launch a small boat out into the water here with a striped target
and as it gets farther and farther out you'll start to lose the stripes one way
that Aristotle proved 2,000 years ago that the earth is a sphere was with a
boat's test very similar to this one as a boat approaches the horizon it appears
to slowly dip down into the water before disappearing completely that's got
everything to do with the curvature of the earth if the planet was flat the
entire boat would remain visible so it'll be a very visual depiction of the
curvature of the earth and what's really interesting is that some of the flat
earthers including mark sergeant's are actually going to be here for this test
they want to see it for themselves what do you think is gonna happen here today
I appreciate the scientific group coming out and trying to do this test great
appreciate the enthusiasm but cannot work can't work yeah okay so the test is
starting the test it's starting right now at first all the stripes are clearly
visible but sure enough as the boat reaches the horizon the stripes begin to
disappear one by one it's pretty amazing you can actually see it really clearly
with this camera here and you see that the red stripe cuz that was at the
bottom has completely disappeared and it's now getting closer to sort of the
middle Green we've lost about one and a half
stripes so this can only happen white because of the curvature of the earth
but mark Sargent and the other flat-earthers
have a very different interpretation of the results so you don't think that what
we're seeing is actually real you think it's because oh yeah here in flat earth
believe it's a globe mister demonstration that doesn't change anyone
Korea Lord no mark do you really believe this stuff tell me the truth
I'm serious right absolutely 100% believe we are not on a globe we are
part of a giant studio set all the world's a stage and you're on it I still
don't understand that like who's gaining from all this from this larger exclusive
the highest authority higher than presidents this super-rich people that
are behind the scenes remember the first rule of powers stay hidden so this is
for me where I think it gets really dangerous because we're going back into
the dark ages all right you're essentially perpetuating ignorance by
denying science you know there's a real-life implication in all of this
science has had its chance and they aren't putting up a defense I think that
the flat earth could potentially uh sure in a new golden age or it could assure
in an age of chaos
it's easy to dismiss this as just a silly theory and unimportant but the
problem is that is a growing movement in America more and more young people seem
to believe that the world is flat and you know it's more than just distrust
and government it's this notion that thousands of years of empirical
scientific evidence is now being dismissed as a mere conspiracy and
that's where I think it really starts getting dangerous for all of us