I have thought a lot about why there are so many flat-Earthers, and I think I have figured out the main cause. For flat-Earthers who are sincere and not mentall

I have thought a lot about why there are so many flat-Earthers, and I think I have figured out the main cause. For flat-Earthers who are sincere and not mentally disturbed, I think the problem is a general mistrust of experts and society in general. This is because we live today in societies that are so unnaturally large. Human psychology is designed for small foraging tribes where you know everyone personally, and so can determine how trustworthy they are. And furthermore, everyone is strongly motivated to be trustworthy because otherwise they would become social outcasts and could not survive. In large, complex societies like ours, you are continually being presented with claims by people you don't know personally and so it is quite possible to lose all trust in their truthfulness. This is especially the case in the US today where you have entities like much of conservative media that are actively working to cultivate mistrust. Unfortunately trust in experts is absolutely essential for a large society like ours to function, and so the problem is how to restore such trust. I think that is a very difficult problem.