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AJA · 08-10-2021, 10:30

The final proof of a round earth is this:
If the earth were flat, the cats of the world would have pushed everything off the edge by now.

Mike OReilly · 08-10-2021, 10:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Ess

Fair enough, but nowadays its pretty much just the post-modernist, woke people who reject empirical knowledge. Many say science is just another icon of white supremacy and such nonsence. We even see guys in these fora who deny 2+2=4.

Evidence shows this is not true. Science denialism is rampant on the political left AND the right. It just varies from subject to subject.

Jimmyhenry · 08-10-2021, 10:40

I have flown on QANTAS from Ushuaia to NZ over the Antarctic on a scheduled commercial flight . And only few days a QANTAS flight flew from Ushuaia to Darwin and we’re reported to be at 74S.

Pete

Rothblum · 08-10-2021, 10:44

Isn't whether the earth is flat or "round" just a question of coordinate systems? Similar to whether the earth rotates around the sun or vice-versa. In everyday affairs, we consider the earth to be flat. All of our paper and digital maps are flat. They get around the curvature by adjusting the coordinates appropriately. As we all know, the coordinates of space are curved by the influence of gravity. When we launch an object on the surface of the earth, we use the equation f=ma to predict its flight path, and we include the coriolis "force" to adjust the path from what would be expected based on stationary cartesian orthogonal coordinates, as opposed to using spherical moving coordinates. Who is to say what is the "reality"? When one does celestial navigation, one has to consider the observer on the earth as the fixed point. It does no practical good to know where, in a coordinate system based on an arbitrary point in the universe, say the position of our sun, objects are positioned. So if we want to sight Venus, we want to know the angle the planet makes with a tangent to the earth’s surface and the bearing based on a flat map projection at a particular time.

lestersails · 08-10-2021, 10:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rothblum

Isn't whether the earth is flat or "round" just a question of coordinate systems?

Nope.

Jdege · 08-10-2021, 10:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rothblum

Isn't whether the earth is flat or "round" just a question of coordinate systems? Similar to whether the earth rotates around the sun or vice-versa. In everyday affairs, we consider the earth to be flat.

Exactly.

I can claim that the Earth is flat, and that I am stationary and the entire universe rotates around me, and I can create a coordinate system that reflects that. And advertising to the principles of relativity all of the math will work out.

It'll be a lot messier than any of the multitudinous coordinate systems we do use, but it's just as valid.

Captain Scott · 08-10-2021, 11:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by boatman61

So.. 186 posts and 13 pages of people pontificating about how clever they are.. and scoring all others.
Will it reach 20.???
Of course it will..

Love it!. We are ALL fallible! Not just in the possibility of, we ARE and are currently.

Be humble, debate the facts, not the character of the other side, have thick skin when your beliefs are questioned and then..... consider how the other side's argument may contain some truth. AND ACKNOWLEDGE THAT. We all ask that of the other side, so.... ask it of yourself! It could be contagious...

Captain Scott · 08-10-2021, 11:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by AJA

The final proof of a round earth is this:
If the earth were flat, the cats of the world would have pushed everything off the edge by now.

But it does really come down to this......

mhorwitz · 08-10-2021, 11:35

In the United Sates their is a segment of the population (~30%) who for lack of any better characterization are special. They remain “special” due to lack of affordable healthcare or resistance to healthcare due to their “specialness”. Given this issue in the U.S. it’s reasonable to assume a similar percentage of “special” people exist globally (another assumption). As a career geoscientist and circumnavigator the whole concept of flat Earth baffles me. Based on scientific fact it’s simply the musings of a “special” kind of mind. An alternative fact that has an abundance of facts to debunk it.

Bycrick · 08-10-2021, 11:55

Beliefs have nothing to do with facts, truth or reality. One can’t “prove” agnosticism, or Catholicism or Buddhism. One believes on faith, or one doesn’t. In 99% of my living, it makes no difference at all whether the earth is flat or round, or as Sherlock Holmes said, whether the earth goes around the sun, or vice versa. Trying to justify,explain and preach “your truth” isn’t a debate.

Mare Nostrum · 08-10-2021, 12:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by StoneCrab

On a recent sail my buddies and I were debating the flat earth theories. We don't have this belief but we were discussing the possible basis or beliefs that are relied on by that those who do.

It was a fun discussion. I am not judgemental about those who hold this belief, but as a mental exercise, we were trying to argue from a flat earther's point of view.... you know how passage conversations go, you have plenty of time and a captive audience, so why not?

Yesterday I ran into a fellow who actually is a firm believer in the Flat Earth. While a lot of his beliefs come from historical texts and biblical writings, which he happily brought up on his computer, he also pointed out that there are no flights over Antarctica and had some suspicions about the treaty many countries signed over ownership and military bases on that continent.

The best fun fact was pulling up the United Nations flag which conspicuously shows all the continents but Antarctica. I didn't see that one coming...

I asked him about the offer that 747 pilot Kelsy made on his 74gear's YouTube Channel to fly a group of Flat Earthers anywhere they wanted to go. All they would have to do is charter the airplane, he would be the pilot and they could have an adventure together.

Apparently another YouTube channel called Baby Truthers tried to accept Kelsy's offer but he sort of backpedaled and nothing came of it. https://www.thedailyplane.com/clip-t...rth-challenge/

My new friend also told me that nobody is allowed to go South of 60 degrees South, which is why there are no commercial flights over the South Pole. He asserted that you cannot get permission to go to Antarctica. I thought this would be easy to dispute, so I spent some time on the internet looking for anything that would describe any restrictions or for that matter, who the governing authority is for Antarctica. It is not a country, so who do you report to? Is there such a thing as Customs down there?

Looking anything up on the Flat Earth theories is hard since much of it is taken down or censored on the internet. I'm not clear on whether there is supposed to be an edge down there or the wall of the dome that we are living under in this theory.

In the spirit of learning and playing with this some more, I was wondering what this group knows about going to Antarctica by plane or boat. I recall in a hazy way, reading about several individuals with aluminum boats that have sailed themselves there in the past, even wintering over, but now I can't retrace these stories.

Interesting associated side discussions involved the moon and how we only see one side of it and how perspective results in objects becoming too small to see, rather than the curvature of the earth making a far off boat drop from view.

I don't want to offend anyone either way, but rather explore something that is a rather foreign concept to me, and routinely censored on the internet. You know, see it from somebody else's point of view. I don't need feel a need to agree with the arguments, but I'd like to hear them, in part to find out why anyone would bother taking down material on the subject.

I figured starting with any restrictions on traveling there would be a start.
National Geographic and SA Expeditions go there but stay along the coast.
What say you?

Actually, just this week, Qantas Airlines had its non-stop flight from Buenos Aires to Darwin, Australia...the route was over Antarctica: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/qa...FQRBBB7J2NXUA/ Maybe the earth is not flat after all...