1990
« on: April 30, 2020, 11:54:16 AM »
Why do you believe the Earth is round?
Ships go over the horizon, the horizon increases with distance and drops below eye level with height, star trails rotate around the poles in different directions in the hemispheres. The ISS can be seen from the ground, GPS and satellite TV, airlines using great circle routes.
Where is your evidence?
See above. The models we have of a globe earth demonstrably work. The technologies that rely on it work. There is no such thing as a FE scientist because none of the evidence points to that being true. The best FE can do is to invent mechanisms to try and explain why observations better match what we'd expect to see on a globe.
Is there any amount of evidence that would change your mind about the shape of the Earth?
Yes.
If yes, what evidence would change your mind about the shape of the Earth?
There would have to be a massive WikiLeaks style release of information from people involved in faking the globe earth or space travel, some photos of the flat earth from space and a map and model that actually works and explains observations.
If you believed the Earth was flat, would you admit it?
Yes. If I believed it then the evidence would have to be compelling enough that a lot of people would believe it and it would probably become the new mainstream view
Have you always believed the Earth is round?
Yes.
If no, what made you change your mind?
N/A
Have you ever observed the curvature of the Earth?
No, not in the sense of being high enough to see a curved horizon.
Have you ever been to space?
No.
Have you ever been to the top of Mount Everest?
No.
Can you believe in something you have never seen before?
Yes.
What does faith mean to you?
It means believing in something I can't prove I guess, but I'd suggest that if you think about it that would apply to most things.
Why do you deny the fact that the Earth is flat?
There is no evidence for it. This place should present it if any exists and the FE model just doesn't work. The sun would not maintain a consistent angular size and velocity if it were circling above us and it would not set, to explain these things mechanisms like "magnification" and EA are invented without evidence of those mechanisms existing. All these do is explain why the observations better match a globe earth. I'd suggest a simpler and better explanation is that the earth is a globe.
There is no FE model or map which works and matches our observations.
Will you believe anything the scientific community tells you?
I believe that the current scientific community use the models which best match the observed reality and are open to those models being amended or replaced if better ones come along - as evidenced be Relativity replacing Newton in terms of being our best understanding of gravity. I don't believe they are actively trying to fool us although some may do work sponsored by certain companies which may skew their conclusions as they did with the whole debate about the dangers of smoking. Ultimately though the truth tends to emerge when the evidence is strong enough.
If the scientific community told you the sky was red, would you accept it?
I don't believe they would ever say that.
Do you believe that all planets are round, or just the Earth?
It's not a matter of belief, they are observably round. And we know why they are.
Do you believe that we put a man on the moon?
Yes.
If yes, why haven’t we done it again since 1969?
Mostly the cost. The space race in the 60s cost a huge amount of money and was politically motivated. There just isn't the political will to justify that amount of expenditure any more.
What evidence do you have that we put a man on the moon?
It's all on film, most of the guys who went there are still alive and none have admitted it was all a conspiracy - neither have any of the other people who worked on Apollo many of whom surely must have known it was being faked if it was. There's also plenty of 3rd party evidence - at the time Jodrell Bank in the UK were tracking the craft, the Australians were relaying signals. Amateurs were tracking the craft too. The Russians must have been and never called the US out on a lie. We have the laser reflectors which are still being used, the Chinese have a craft which they claim can take photos of good enough resolution to see the landing sites.
All the evidence I've seen for a conspiracy is based on incredulity or ignorance.
What evidence would change your mind?
If lots of people who were involved suddenly started speaking out and explaining how it was all faked maybe.
What is your opinion on conspiracies in general?
It takes a certain mindset to believe in them and it's generally people who like to believe that "they" are up to something. They generally involve clinging on desperately to any shred of evidence which implies a conspiracy could be at work and ignoring the mountain of evidence that it is not.
Do you believe the official story given by the government regarding the JFK assassination?
Yes. I saw a good documentary about it actually which debunked a lot of the nonsense in the film "JFK".
Do you believe that 9/11 was an inside job?
No.
Do you believe in chemtrails?
No.
Do you believe in the Illuminati?
No.
Do you believe Obama was born in Hawaii, or Kenya?
Hawaii.
Do you believe Obama is a Muslim?
No.
Do you believe corona virus is real?
Yes.
Do you believe that the CIA was testing methods of mind control in the 50’s and 60’s?
I have no real opinion, not something I've looked into.
Do you believe in any conspiracies at all that were not already mentioned?
Not really, I mean I'm sure "they" are up to some things but there is no obvious motive for most of the conspiracy theories I've heard about.
How do you square the fact that some of the most evil people in history believed the earth was round? Ex. Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Jeffery Dahmer, Ted Bundy, Jim Jones, etc.
Square it with what? Most humans in history believed the earth was round so that includes evil people and good people (whatever "good" means).
Do you believe in the “theory” of gravity, as proposed by Isaac Newton?
It is not our best model of gravity since Einstein's came along but I believe in it in as much as it's a very good approximation for most situations and has been used successfully for centuries.
Were you aware that Isaac Newton attempted to steal all the credit for the invention of calculus from Gottfried Leibniz?
My understanding is they pretty much developed it independently and yes, Newton took all the credit. I'm not sure what you're getting at though. A person doesn't have to have an impeccible character to be a good scientist.
Why do you take someone who wore a powdered wig seriously?
Because he lived at a time when that was the fashion and his models have indisputably been shown to be correct - or at least a good enough approximation to be useful.
Why do you strawman people you don’t agree with and claim they are somehow anti-science?
I don't.
Do you believe in God?
Yes
If yes, what religion/denomination are you a member of?
Christian
Do you believe that water seeks its own level?
Not in the way that is meant in the FE community. Water like any liquid is subject to the forces that act on it. A small drop of water will form into a sphere, tiny drops of water can form a mist and be suspended in the air (that's what clouds are and, when they're at ground level, fog/mist).
A thin film of water can cling to the outside of a sphere. If the sphere is large enough and has a gravitational field then the level of the water can follow the curve of the sphere because the gravitational force acts towards the centre of the sphere.
Do you believe in tectonic plates?
Yes.
What is your evidence for tectonic plates?
Evidence from volcanos/earthquakes, there's evidence from magnetic stripes on the sea floor which are evidence for movement over time, there are things continuing mounain ranges and animal/plant fossils across continents in a way which indicates a joined past.
Have you ever seen a tectonic plate?
Well, we all live on one but I don't really know what that means.
Has anyone ever seen a tectonic plate?
As above
If the tectonic plates move so slowly that you can’t even notice, how do we know that they move at all, assuming of course that they actually exist?
You can find evidence for the way plates have moved over time - features like fences which used to be alined which are now not following plate slips. And GPS measurements are now accurate enough to detect the movement.
How many tectonic plates are there?
I don't know.
How many continents are there?
So in the UK we think of 5: Africa, Europe, The Americas, Asia and Australia. Antartica is a continent but when I was at school I think we didn't count that, I guess because there's no indiginous population. And the Arctic isn't a continent, just a load of ice.
Why are Europe and Asia seen as two different continents even though they are clearly one landmass?
Good question. Isn't Africa also connected? It's just a definition, I'm not clear how the separation was made or why.
What is the definition of a continent?
As above, I don't know how they're defined or why. It seems pretty arbitrary but then so are countries.
What is the definition of a planet?
Not exactly sure but I believe it has to be large enough to be gravitationally dominant in its orbit - so have cleared out other objects in the same orbit.
What is the definition of a species?
Not 100% sure. I know it's a population that can interbreed but it is probably a bit more complicated than that.
Do any of the previously mentioned words have clearly defined meanings?
I believe they do although I'm not 100% sure of what those definitions are.
Should words without clearly defined meanings be used in a scientific setting?
Ideally terms should be defined to help common understanding.
If tectonic plates can create a mountain, could they also destroy a mountain?
I think mountains are destroyed more by erosion rather than tectonic plate activity but am not sure.
What evidence is there that a mountain can be formed by tectonic plates?
I believe the Himalayas have been formed by the plate India is on smashing (slowly) into the plate North of it, The evidence for this is fossils found high up on the mountains which are from sea creatures - so that land must have been undewater at some point - and I believe because of the continued movement of that plate the Himalayas are continuing to grow in a measurable way.
Have you ever observed a mountain being formed from tectonic plates?
The change of height of a montain can be observed over longer periods of time but the question is silly. Look at your fingernail, can you observe it growing? No? Well, it can't be then. Look at it again in a couple of weeks, then you'll observe a difference, that is how we can observe that mountains are being formed by plate movement.
If tectonic plates caused all the continents to become one massive landmass, why did they suddenly drift apart in the opposite direction?
Not sure about this but I believe the land formed as one landmass - pangea - and then broke apart.
Do you believe that earthquakes are caused by the shifting of tectonic plates?
Yes.
Where is your evidence that earthquakes are caused by the shifting of tectonic plates?
The movement of plates can be measured by GPS and earthquake location corresponds to the plate boundaries.
Do you believe that Earth could have landmasses no person has ever been to?
Not a large one, no. We have enough satellites now and the globe has been mapped well enough to make it impossible that any large landmass exists which we have not found.
Do you believe that life exists on other planets?
I'm going to sit on the fence on this one. The size of the universe makes it feasible but so many things are unknown to make it impossible to be sure.
Do you believe aliens have visited Earth?
No.
Have you ever heard of the Fermi Paradox?
Yes although I'm not clear on what it says.
The Fermi Paradox is as follows: If evilution is true, then shouldn’t we be seeing aliens everywhere?
What is your explanation for the Fermi Paradox?
Distance. The nearest star, Alpha Proxima, is 4 light years away. We do not have the technology to get there in any reasonable timeframe. And that's the nearest star. It's possible that some alien civilisation somewhere out there has better technology but given that as far as we understand the speed of light is some universal speed limit, they're still too far away to get to us or communicate.
Do you believe the sun is many times bigger than the moon?
Yes.
If yes, how could a solar eclipse be possible?
Because the sun is further away than the moon. They are different sizes and different distances which makes the angular size roughly the same. You could hold a coin up and block out the sun too - obviously it would cast a significantly smaller shadow though.
If the sun was bigger than the moon, then what are the chances that the moon would be able to eclipse almost all the light from the sun, except for a rim of light?
It is quite the coincidence, if the moon were closer we'd have eclipses which would last a lot longer, if it were further we wouldn't get them at all. But note that the moon's distance does vary and sometimes it is too far away to completely block the sun and we get an annular eclipse.
How does a lunar eclipse make sense on a round earth?
I don't understand the question. The moon is in the earth's shadow. How does it make sense on a flat earth?
If the earth was casting a shadow on the moon, wouldn’t it just cause the moon to appear black, instead of red?
As the shadow moves across the disc of the moon it is mostly black but at some points of totality the light is filtered through the earth's atmosphere, the blue light is scattered (hence we see blue skies) and reddish light is cast onto the moon. What is the FE explanation?
Do you believe the Earth rotates around the sun?
Yes.
Do you believe there are millions of planets?
Yes. Well, there will be more than that in the universe.
Do you believe there are millions of stars?
It's orders of magnitude more than that.
Do you believe that our sun is a star?
Yes. The spectoscopy evidence shows that our sun is made of the same stuff as other stars so there's good reason to believe the sun is basically the same as other stars.
Do you believe in galaxies?
Yes.
Do you believe in black holes?
Yes
Do you believe in quasars?
Yes.
Do you believe in pulsars?
Yes.
Do you believe in nebulae?
Yes.
Do you believe in supernovae?
Yes.
Do you believe in neutron stars?
Yes.
Do you believe in white dwarfs?
Yes.
Do you believe in brown dwarfs?
Yes.
Do you believe in red dwarfs?
Yes.
Do you believe in red giants?
Yes.
Do you believe in dark energy?
I'm not sure about this.
Do you believe in dark matter?
Only in the sense that it's used as a placeholder right now, it seems like there is more matter out there than we can observe.
Do you believe in anti-matter?
Yes.
If you answered yes to any of the previously mentioned celestial objects, why?
Because of the evidence from various astronomers, Hubble has taken photos of many of these things.
Where is your evidence that these celestial objects exist?
As above.
Have you ever observed any of these celestial objects?
Only photos from various space agencies/astronomers.
Do you believe that in the future, there will be people born not on Earth? Ex. Mars, The Moon, deep space, etc.
It's possible.
Do you believe that in the future, people will be able to travel back and forth between different planets?
Within the solar system, possibly.
If we were to start a colony on a different planet or even the moon, what laws would they have to follow?
Good question. Like any colony, those would have to be defined and would evolve over time
Why is it that the most famous planets and stars are named after pagan gods?
They were disovered by people who worshiped those gods. Maybe they believed they were those gods.
Did you know that astronomy originates from the false religion known as astrology?
I don't know if that is true but what of it? Astronomy is evidence based, astrology is not.
Is pluto a planet?
Not any more.
If pluto is too small to be considered a planet, how big does something have to be in order to be a planet?
As I said above I believe it's something to do with it being gravitationally dominant which relates to its size.
What is the difference between a planet and a dwarf planet, other than size?
I think it is mostly about size.
How big does something orbiting a planet need to be in order to be considered a moon?
Not sure. Not that big though, I believe some of Jupter or Saturns are relateively small.
Is the fictitious international space station a moon?
It's not fictitious, it can literally be seen from the ground. And no, it's a satellite.
Do you believe that our solar system could have a ninth, unknown planet?
Certainly possible.