I have this crazy theory (just for fun) that flat-earthers are people who want to be taken to space, as in they fake the disbelief in order to advance space exploration. If I bet you $1000 that the earth is flat you'd have an incentive to prove me wrong, the easiest way is to make going to space for me to observe the earth from a distance as cheap as possible. In this age of outrage it is easier to get people interested in a subject by spurring controversy than it is by igniting their curiosity.