The Quest for Paradise

The auditorium was silent even as people scrambled to come up with something to say.

"I know it's very difficult to be where you all are right now as I once was there myself. What I'm saying sounds crazy, but here you are with nothing to bolster your belief in a round Earth model other than a priest who lived 500 years ago and NASA showing you grainy out of focus pictures of the moon about sixty or so years ago. As scientists you all should be thinking to yourselves that if your belief was true then there should surely be more readily available evidence to prove it other than taking the word of Copernicus or the guys and gals over at NASA. Incidentally the opposite extreme as exists today within the scientific community was once the case. In the ancient world every advanced society believed in a flat unmoving earth. The ancient Egyptians, the Greeks, and even ancient Hebrews all believed in a flat earth and they would laugh at you if you were to tell them otherwise. As late as the 17th century the Chinese maintained belief in a flat earth. The change in that culture occurred because of the religious order that Copernicus belonged to, the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church wanted to become more progressive and it liked new ideas so it began mandating that Copernicus's theory as well as Galileo's was in point, an undeniable fact that no one should question. It has gone so far in terms of reeducation as to include the moniker taught to all schoolchildren that 'Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492 and confirmed that the Earth was round'. That couldn't be farther from the truth ladies and gentlemen."

Turning to Frank I pointed to the empty screen behind me, "Is there any way I could have a picture of a typical schoolroom map globe put up here?"

Frank nodded and within moments the screen behind me was lit up with the typical globe depiction of the Earth to be found in almost every elementary classroom within the nation and perhaps the world.

"Now this is what, from day one, of your education you are told the Earth looks like. So in theory any ship captain in the world could take this globe and navigate anywhere in the world by the use of it. Who here believes that's possible?"

No one lifted a hand even as I began to see the dull glints of awakening understanding begin to occur.

"And you would all be right not to answer yes as you just have. There is no conceivable way a ship captain can use a globe to navigate anywhere other than a ship wreck. Captains use charts. Charts that reflect a flat earth. Can we have one please?"