Flat Earth

[Ponder This]

There was once a popular belief that the Earth was flat, that had we sailed too far, our ship would fall over the edge.

I haven't anything to add. I guess it's a reminder that things are not always as scary as they might seem.

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"The Sun revolves around the Earth" (obviously observable) and "the Earth revolves around the Sun" (inevitable consequence) are the same thing!
The heliocentric model was about planets besides Earth also revolving around the Sun.... which means that all those people who thought the Sun revolved around the Earth? They were right!

I think the take away is that sometimes the same thing can be seen from different perspectives. One perspective does not automatically make other perspectives wrong.

If flat Earth just meant what it obviously means to any observer (modern or medieval): that the surface of the Earth is locally homeomorphic to R^2... then it would be just another way to look at things that's not incompatible with the Earth's surface being globally homeomorphic to a sphere.

 

[Audie]

There was a documentary on these flat Earth proponents on Netflix a while back. It was pretty interesting. There seems to be some sort of psychological thing going on. A kind of paranoid logic trap that causes people to be attracted to these weird alternative realities and to fight to maintain them. They NEED to be the 'rare visionary' that sees through the mass delusion that everyone else has fallen for.

In the documentary a group of these flat Earthers set out to PROVE the Earth was flat using a laser experiment. (They are that convinced that they're right.) And, of course, the experiment proved exactly the opposite. Yet they would not accept the results of THEIR OWN experiment. They insisted that it had somehow gone wrong, or been misinterpreted, and they began inventing possible "errors" to account for their own experiment's results. It was pretty interesting. They just couldn't accept being wrong about it. They were so deeply invested in the idea that they had the "real" knowledge while everyone else was deceived.

So like our theists.

 

[Audie]

"The Sun revolves around the Earth" (obviously observable) and "the Earth revolves around the Sun" (inevitable consequence) are the same thing!
The heliocentric model was about planets besides Earth also revolving around the Sun.... which means that all those people who thought the Sun revolved around the Earth? They were right!

I think the take away is that sometimes the same thing can be seen from different perspectives. One perspective does not automatically make other perspectives wrong.

If flat Earth just meant what it obviously means to any observer (modern or medieval): that the surface of the Earth is locally homeomorphic to R^2... then it would be just another way to look at things that's not incompatible with the Earth's surface being globally homeomorphic to a sphere.

Our maid (nice lady from Philippines)
was so interested in my being up in the middle
of the night, talking to Americans who think it is noon.
And "winter ". How can that be?
Lots of questions, how can it be day there?
Why does it get cold in America?

I started to explain and I soon saw I had a big job!

To her, the earth is flat, the other planets are
like earth, one must make loud noises to keep the
lizard from eating the moon. (Eclipse)

Now she knows the earth is round like an orange, and travels around the sun. She finds it all mind boggling, but I installed a big globe in the living room just for her, seeing it every day is sinking in.

She still wonders why the water doesn't frail off,
but we' re making progress. She is smart and
wants to learn.

 

[Father Heathen]

There was a documentary on these flat Earth proponents on Netflix a while back. It was pretty interesting. There seems to be some sort of psychological thing going on. A kind of paranoid logic trap that causes people to be attracted to these weird alternative realities and to fight to maintain them. They NEED to be the 'rare visionary' that sees through the mass delusion that everyone else has fallen for.

In the documentary a group of these flat Earthers set out to PROVE the Earth was flat using a laser experiment. (They are that convinced that they're right.) And, of course, the experiment proved exactly the opposite. Yet they would not accept the results of THEIR OWN experiment. They insisted that it had somehow gone wrong, or been misinterpreted, and they began inventing possible "errors" to account for their own experiment's results. It was pretty interesting. They just couldn't accept being wrong about it. They were so deeply invested in the idea that they had the "real" knowledge while everyone else was deceived.

Seems like a lot of religions and political ideologies suffer the same psychological trap.

 

[crossfire]

Amd if the world was flat then cats would have knocked almost everything off the planet by now.

Here is a picture of Xi throwing a Coke Bottle off the end of the Earth from the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy

 

[Sunstone]

There has to be something in here about Mercator squaring the circle

I think his solution was overblown. What about you?

 

[PureX]

So like our theists.

So like our Trump followers.

 

[PureX]

Seems like a lot of religions and political ideologies suffer the same psychological trap.

I think the psychological phenomenon can latch on to any number of "secret revelations". I would like to understand what drives it. What drives people to need to feel that they have special access to some truth that other people don't have. Maybe a deep insecurity about life. Who knows?

 

[Audie]

So like our Trump followers.

Who would say otherwise?

Lets just make that everyone except me. For ten dollars
you can join the not-list.

 

[Audie]

I think the psychological phenomenon can latch on to any number of "secret revelations". I would like to understand what drives it. What drives people to need to feel that they have special access to some truth that other people don't have. Maybe a deep insecurity about life. Who knows?

Wait-arent you one who says he knows god exists?

 

[Audie]

I think his solution was overblown. What about you?

Well dont get bent outta shape over it.

The Canadians love it.

 

[PureX]

Wait-arent you one who says he knows god exists?

No, I'm the one that says, "exists, how?"

 

[Audie]

No, I'm the one that says, "exists, how?"

Distinction sans difference.

Now whatabout my ten dollars?

Or are you going to stick with the theists,
trumpers, hoary debtors, has- beens, ne'er-
do- wells, labou racketeers, geeks* ,
and drifters?

*old definition

 

[Revoltingest]

I went from a six-pack to a pony keg.

I once had the body of a Greek god.
Now I have the body of a goddam Greek.

 

[Ponder This]

Our maid (nice lady from Philippines)
was so interested in my being up in the middle
of the night, talking to Americans who think it is noon.
And "winter ". How can that be?
Lots of questions, how can it be day there?
Why does it get cold in America?

I started to explain and I soon saw I had a big job!

To her, the earth is flat, the other planets are
like earth, one must make loud noises to keep the
lizard from eating the moon. (Eclipse)

Now she knows the earth is round like an orange, and travels around the sun. She finds it all mind boggling, but I installed a big globe in the living room just for her, seeing it every day is sinking in.

She still wonders why the water doesn't frail off,
but we' re making progress. She is smart and
wants to learn.

There is a difference between observations and extrapolation.
However, you may find that lack of knowledge does not indicate lack of imagination.