I was going to get around to it. However, geckothegeek cites popular opinion over half a dozen times as an easy way to demonstrate the earth is round. Basically, his argument can be boiled down to, "ask <insert profession> and they will all say the world is round so it must be." It's by far his most dominant argument.
The others are rubbish too, but can we all admit that popular opinion is a poor way to decide truth before I move on?
We can agree on that, yes, and apologies for jumping the gun.
However, the citation of people working in professions which would grant them a well rounded (tee hee) knowledge of the earth, how it works, and how to navigate it could be considered professional data rather than opinion no?
I might be more inclined to take the word of a doctor on the nature of a diagnosis than that of a guy who read an article on homeopathy once while in the waiting room during an oil change.
I might be more inclined to take the word of a mechanic who says I need new brakes than my wife who tells me "I didn't hear any noise, it's fine."
-Point being that the professional input of people should carry some weight when considering matters of discussion, more so than the average shlub who happens to have an interest in the matter, and this really shouldn't be any different.
If a poster came in here and claimed he'd been a navigator on the open seas for thirty five years, and he thought the earth was flat, would you look at him with the same scrutiny as the guys cited by gecko who don't validate that particular line of thought?
Professional input needs to be weighted appropriately.
Great, some people are more knowledgeable about things than other people. Lets move on now that half of geckothegeek's easy proofs are debunked. He have these:
- Take a cruise at sea.
- Observe a sunset to see if the sun gets smaller as it sets.
- Note if a horizon exists or not.
- Check flat-earth fantasies against round-earth realities.
Take a cruise at sea. I've done this. It did not prove the shape of the earth and it's not exactly "easy". As in the average person couldn't do this just any day.
Observe a sunset to see if the sun gets smaller as it sets. Flat-Earth theory doesn't say that it gets appreciably smaller. The light gets diffused.
Not if the horizon exists or not. Check, it does. What's that supposed to prove?
Check flat-earth fantasies against round-earth realities. I don't even know what this means.
1.Granted that the average person probably doesn't take a cruise, but many do.
The fact that the old "ship going over the horizon" at least proves that the earth is not flat. If the earth was flat, the ship would just appear smaller and smaller and
couldbe restored to view with a telescope of sufficient power. But the ship does disappear, hull first and finally the masts go out of view. Even the old sailors knew the earth was round , too. When sailing away from land, the shoreline first disappears and gradually the tops of mountains disappear.
2.Simple. Observe a sunset and notice that the sun remains the same size and also gradually disappears as it sets below the horizon. If the earth was flat the sun would always remains at the same altitude and fade away as it gets in the distance.
3.If the earth was flat the flat earth idea is that the horizon is a blur that fades away n the distance. But the horizon, especially at sea, is always a distinct line where sea and sky meet unless there is some atmospheric condition such as fog . And also the fact that the distance to the horizon depends on the height of the observer. If the earth was flat there would be no need for placing crow's nest or radar antennas on the highest points above the seas to enable the lookout or the radar antenna to "see" the greatest distance to the horizon.
4.Ask any sea captain to show you a chart showing an ice ring around the earth, for just one example. Ask him to show you a flat earth map. Ask him how his charts were made. This is one of the simplest ways in de-bunking flat earth fantasies, which is just what they are. I don't think I am alone, but I think if you asked anyone, they could not give you a reason why anyone would think , much less believe, that the earth was flat and was not a globe. It just boggles the mind to think that there any persons who -quote-"believe"-unquote- that the earth was a flat disc. This, after all , is the year 2015.