# Any Flat Earthers or Geocentrists **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 10, 2010, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-flat-earthers-or-geocentrists/556720 "2010-10-10T21:10:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-flat-earthers-or-geocentrists/556720/1 "2010-10-10T21:10:14Z")
Are there any flat earthers or geocentrists on Straight Dope Message Board? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-flat-earthers-or-geocentrists/556720/2 "2010-10-10T21:11:59Z")
I’d say it’s pretty unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-flat-earthers-or-geocentrists/556720/3 "2010-10-10T21:42:06Z")
Someone will vote yes just to be obnoxious, though. ---
**Author:** ![kapri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kapri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kapri)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-flat-earthers-or-geocentrists/556720/4 "2010-10-10T21:50:25Z")
How can anyone be either of those these days? I can’t imagine anyone on earth who has a smidgen of education and can read could believe either of those things. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-flat-earthers-or-geocentrists/556720/5 "2010-10-10T21:52:42Z")
Neither, as I believe the United States is the center of the Universe. 😉 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2010, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-flat-earthers-or-geocentrists/556720/6 "2010-10-10T22:10:47Z")
> [@kapri](#): > > How can anyone be either of those these days? I can’t imagine anyone on earth who has a smidgen of education and can read could believe either of those things. [18% of Americans think the Sun orbits the Earth.](http://www.gallup.com/poll/3742/new-poll-gauges-americans-general-knowledge-levels.aspx) [Catholic geocentrists are holding a convention in November.](http://www.catholicintl.com/galileowaswrong/index.html) > [@](#): > > Galileo Was Wrong is a detailed and comprehensive treatment of the scientific evidence supporting Geocentrism, the academic belief that the Earth is immobile in the center of the universe. Garnering scientific information from physics, astrophysics, astronomy and other sciences, Galileo Was Wrong shows that the debate between Galileo and the Catholic Church was much more than a difference of opinion about the interpretation of Scripture. > > Scientific evidence available to us within the last 100 years that was not available during Galileo’s confrontation shows that the Church’s position on the immobility of the Earth is not only scientifically supportable, but it is the most stable model of the universe and the one which best answers all the evidence we see in the cosmos. ---
**Author:** ![carm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@carm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carm)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-flat-earthers-or-geocentrists/556720/7 "2010-10-11T00:32:27Z")
> [@kapri](#): > > How can anyone be either of those these days? I can’t imagine anyone on earth who has a smidgen of education and can read could believe either of those things. [This](http://www.break.com/index/56-percent-of-french-people-are-stupid.html) may just blow your mind. ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-flat-earthers-or-geocentrists/556720/8 "2010-10-11T00:42:09Z")
> [@carm](#): > > > [@kapri](#): > > > > How can anyone be either of those these days? I can’t imagine anyone on earth who has a smidgen of education and can read could believe either of those things. > > [This](http://www.break.com/index/56-percent-of-french-people-are-stupid.html) may just blow your mind. Is that real O.o??? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-flat-earthers-or-geocentrists/556720/9 "2010-10-11T03:51:55Z")
I can’t watch videos right now – what happened? And duh, everyone knows that PITTSBURGH is the center of the universe. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-flat-earthers-or-geocentrists/556720/10 "2010-10-11T04:01:11Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I can’t watch videos right now – what happened? > And duh, everyone knows that PITTSBURGH is the center of the universe. 😃 In a French gameshow like Who wants to be a millionaire?, a guy was asked what revolves around the earth: the moon, the sun, Venus or Mars. Yes, that was the actual question. He required the help of the audience (really!). 56% of the audience voted for the sun. If it had been a UK show, a snarky audience might have been presumed. Not here. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-flat-earthers-or-geocentrists/556720/11 "2010-10-11T04:23:08Z")
Sad to see the correct answer is missing – Boyocentrists. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-flat-earthers-or-geocentrists/556720/12 "2010-10-11T04:29:31Z")
On OKCupid they ask if the Sun or the Moon is bigger. A not insignificant amount of people say it’s the moon. These tend to be the same people that say birds on power lines DO get shocked, they just don’t express it well. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-flat-earthers-or-geocentrists/556720/13 "2010-10-11T04:43:23Z")
I like saying that the sun goes around the Earth just on principle. There’s no “center” to the universe. It’s all relative. And if I define a coordinate system where the Earth is the origin, then everything has to go around the Earth by definition. And of course, the Earth doesn’t really go around the Sun anymore than it goes around Mercury. The Sun and the Earth both go around an empty point in space somewhere between the two. Now sure, the Earth circumscribes and area that contains the Sun’s orbit, but it does that for Mercury and Venus too. The point is, when you’re talking about interplanetary distances, it makes no sense to say that anything “goes around” anything else. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-flat-earthers-or-geocentrists/556720/14 "2010-10-11T06:58:23Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > The Sun and the Earth both go around an empty point in space somewhere between the two. Nope; the [barycenter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_of_mass#Barycenter_in_astrophysics_and_astronomy) of the Sun-Earth system is well inside the Sun. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-flat-earthers-or-geocentrists/556720/15 "2010-10-12T03:18:14Z")
[quote=“carm, post:7, topic:556720”] > [@kapri](#): > > [This](http://www.break.com/index/56-percent-of-french-people-are-stupid.html) may just blow your mind. I couldn’t imagine going through life like that. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-flat-earthers-or-geocentrists/556720/16 "2010-10-12T03:24:36Z")
Well…the Earth IS the center of the Universe, if you use an Earth-centric coordinate system, no? 😛 -XT ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-flat-earthers-or-geocentrists/556720/17 "2010-10-12T04:42:06Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > The point is, when you’re talking about interplanetary distances, it makes no sense to say that anything “goes around” anything else. Call me old-fashioned, but I rather like the “has the majority of it’s local path gravitationally dictated by” definition of “goes around” pretty well, regardless of the distances involved. Sure, you can call the some point on/in the Earth the center of the coordinate system if you want, but it’ll still be pretty obvious that all the OTHER planets have the sun as their primary in-system gravitational “center” (OK, eliptical focus), even though they do, technically, rotate around us every 24 hours in that coordinate system. Plus, you’re just being contrary. You don’t actually believe (I presume) that the heavens are on fixes spheres centered on the Earth, you’re just pointing out a mathematical quibble. There exist people who simply don’t get the physical phenomena involved – and I guarantee you that most of them are not just choosing a bizarre coordinate system. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-flat-earthers-or-geocentrists/556720/18 "2010-10-12T13:21:43Z")
Of course the Earth is the center of the universe - Hubble proved that in the 1920’s when he showed that the universe is expanding and that this expansion is occurring at the same rate wherever you look in the sky. Since everything is receding from us, we are obviously at the center… and at the focal point of existence. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ColdPhoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@ColdPhoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColdPhoenix)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-flat-earthers-or-geocentrists/556720/19 "2010-10-12T14:02:12Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > Someone will vote yes just to be obnoxious, though. I was going to but then I saw it was a public poll. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-flat-earthers-or-geocentrists/556720/20 "2010-10-12T15:02:36Z")
I voted “yes” to geocentrist, but only in a metaphorical sense. We all know that there’s no “center of the universe,” so the earth is as much the center as any other random coordinates. Plus, as far as we know so far, we are the only intelligent species we know about . . . the only species for whom the phrase “center of the universe” has any meaning. So we might as well claim the center until some other species comes along. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-flat-earthers-or-geocentrists/556720.md?page=2)