NBA star Kyrie Irving recently claimed that the Earth is flat. People might comfort themselves by concluding that Irving is “crazy” or “stupid.” These conclusions obscure the real problems underlying Irving’s flat Earth revelations: Humans are susceptible to this type of reasoning and the current social climate enables those susceptibilities.

To begin, let’s dispense with the notion that Irving believes in a flat Earth because he is unable to think clearly. Irving has quickly reached the upper echelon of his profession. Sure, basketball relies on athletic ability more than most professions, but it still relies on discipline, quick thinking, and teamwork.

Besides, characterizing Irving as insane or unintelligent is consistent with a well-known tendency, particularly among Westerners, to attribute behavior to dispositional causes rather than situational ones. It is psychologically easy to assume that Irving believes the Earth is flat because he has a serious cognitive impairment. It takes more time to consider the situational factors that might have led Irving to this seemingly bizarre belief.

How does a sane person believe the Earth is flat? To begin, this person is convinced by others that the Earth is flat. Humans characteristically dislike being wrong, so subsequent challenges to this belief are interpreted in a confirmatory manner. Individuals can address evidence of a round Earth with ad hoc hypotheses that are easily obtained from other flat Earthers. The curve of the horizon is caused by undulations in the flat Earth. Circumnavigation is just traveling in a circle. Each of these counterarguments further embeds the individual in the flat Earth view.

Finally, if the evidence becomes too condemning, one can summon a conspiracy theory that is impossible to debunk. Photographs from space are part of a NASA conspiracy. NASA maintains this conspiracy using money siphoned from the space budget to hide the faked moon landing.

These arguments seem “crazy” to those who believe the Earth is a globe, but people routinely fall victim to fundamentally similar thinking in other scientific domains. The evidence for man-made climate change can be attributed to natural temperature cycles. Science’s inability to detect the vaccination-autism link is due to the subtlety of the effect. The scientific evidence is being distorted by Greenpeace and Big Pharma anyway.

Irving’s belief in a flat Earth is just another pseudoscientific development in a society that encourages this type of thinking. People and politicians frequently undermine science and science journalism by arguing that these groups are plagued with self-interest and deception. By doing so, the psychological discomfort that might accompany being wrong can be wiped away. One only has to buy into a conspiracy that explains contradictory evidence and then communicate with like-minded people or news sources.

United States residents might think the idea of a flat Earth is so absurd that it could never become a serious political concern. They shouldn’t. Science educators fight this type of battle daily. The scientific evidence that the Earth is billions of years old is nearly as convincing as the evidence that the Earth is round. The United States has a vice president and several other politicians who nevertheless believe in a “young Earth” or are unwilling to contradict the idea publicly.

Additionally, if the flat Earth theory gains traction, its proponents could exert their influence using the same tactics that have been developed by preceding forms of pseudoscience: Schools should teach the flat Earth theory because not doing so is unfair; students with religious concerns should be exempted from round Earth teachings; scientists who argue otherwise hate religion.

If the United States does not change its anti-science ways, its residents might see the day where people challenge the round Earth in a similar manner. Oh, and if you think that this could not happen because the round Earth is a scientific fact, you’re wrong. One could argue that the round Earth is a theory, and isn’t a scientific theory just a theory?

Craig A. Foster is a professor of psychology at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

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