Ancient Greek Discovery of Earth's Roundness is Futile

In a recent episode of Cosmos, Carl Sagan explains how the ancient Greeks, using reason and math, figured out that the Earth isn’t flat over 2,000 years ago. This discovery was made by Eratosthenes who measured the size of Earth. Despite this remarkable achievement, it appears to be futile in the grand scheme of things. The fact that we now know the Earth is round has not changed much since then. We still face many of the same issues today as we did 2,000 years ago - war, poverty and environmental destruction to name a few. Furthermore, despite our knowledge that our planet is round, there are still those who refuse to accept this fact and instead choose to believe in conspiracy theories about a flat earth. It seems that no matter how much progress we make in understanding our world through science and mathematics, it does not necessarily translate into meaningful change for humanity as a whole. While Eratosthenes' discovery may have been groundbreaking at its time and an incredible feat of human ingenuity and intellect, it ultimately has done little to improve our lives or solve any of the pressing issues facing us today.