My eighteen years of experience with testing extraordinary claims has exposed me to a mountain of lame excuses. First, as science-based skeptics we think it’s okay to question any proposition with sound inquiry, and we’re keen to hear which twisted denials the “high ranking” flat earthers who attended would proffer after they saw the curve for themselves. We decided to conduct this demonstration of a well-known fact for three reasons. In fact, Earth’s curve makes an average-height person disappear below the horizon to a similar-sized person at a distance of about six miles. Assuming clear enough air and a powerful enough telescope, they believe a person standing near the water on one shore can see someone standing on another shore miles away. Though flat-earther models vary significantly, many believe water, like the rest of the planet, is flat. National Geographic Explorer was there to video the encounter. There is also toxic dust from nearby agriculture that is polluting the air in the area. On Sunday, June 10, 2018, about a dozen pro-science skeptics from the Independent Investigations Group (IIG) at the Center for Inquiry West in Los Angeles met a similar-sized group of flat earthers to demonstrate the curvature of the earth across the Salton Sea, a troubled body of salty water 160 miles southeast of Los Angeles, whose water level is going down and salinity is going up.

As formidable as these issues are alone, they become exponentially worse because the spreaders of all this bad information have at their fingertips massive reach. Today, skeptics fight not only false assertions and misinterpretation of facts but also a fundamental distrust of science and a deep-seated paranoia about reputable institutions lying to the entire culture.

With a little care and attention, most wacky claims were debunked and the conclusions disseminated.

Back in the 1970s when organized science-based skepticism was just getting on its feet, someone such as The Amazing Randi or Joe Nickell could just investigate and solve mysteries such as spoon bending, Bigfoot, crop circles, or the Roswell crash and share the information in Skeptical Inquirer magazine or with Johnny Carson.

How to prove flat earthers wrong