Proof the earth can be flat (page 3)

The Rebel

LoveUnHateExams " Not this crap again"

Thr Rebel:- LOL , but at least Slimboyfat is sincere and presents reasons why we should believe his point of view. My questions are therefore directed at Slim:-

A) Do you honestly expect people to belive " The Earth is Flat?

B) "Do you know where babies come from?

Slim my above questions are not cynicle, just trying to understand your sincere point of view and I believe :-

A) if you are sure you know where babies come from then you should be equally sure the earth is not flat.

B) If you can offer proof the earth is flat then you are one of the world greatest minds.

C) Assuming you are one of the worlds greatest minds, I think until you can offer conclusive proof the earth is flat, your thoughts are best shared over a drink than by playing ping pong with such thoughts on an ex J.W discussion forum.

Anyway in conclusion I believe I am over my J.W exsperience and the only reason I remain a member of this forum is that it has so many interesting thinkers, and decent human beings. Slim you fit into both those categories.

The Rebel.

stan livedeath

A) Do you honestly expect people to belive " The Earth is Flat?

and why not ? would YOU believe there are some people that seriously believe their god ( ha ha--right )---is soon going to wipe out everyone else on earth--except them and their fellow cult members. not only that--they will live forever on this cleansed planet.

they need locking up somewhere safe.

BWAA HAA HAA HAA.

The Rebel

Stan livedeath interesting reply.

The Rebel (A) I believe the fact is most of us are Watsons and don't smoke a pipe and play a violin (lol) nor do most of us come to these Sherlock Holmes conclusions " When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains however improbable must be the truth.

So, ok let's get real to the facts. I believe most of us can be Watson and cry " Excellent" to such noncence whilst those that we follow say " Elementary".

So here is some more Sherlock Holmes " It is a capital mistake to theorise in advance of the facts and the insensible one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts"

In this case do we like Watson say " Excellent" or do we go further and search for proof these facts presented by Sherlock are really facts.

The Rebel.

Simon

I think this relies on new definitions of the words "fact" and "proof" and twisting the fact that an optical illusion exists because of how our eyes process light to apply to something that it doesn't apply to - whether the earth is flat or a cube.

Inane drivel.

slimboyfat

I don't like the flat earth example but often when I say something unrelated that Cofty doesn't agree with he ends up saying: "yeah you also believe in a flat earth so I don't need to engage what you said seriously."

Do I believe the earth is flat? It depends. From certain perspectives it is flat of course. To the worm for example. Surely most would not deny that. And yet, in what most would regard as the most straightforward sense, then of course the earth is not flat. In the sense that the shape of the earth as seen from space is round and indicates a spherical shape in three dimensions. I don't think we'll return to an ancient cosmology including a flat earth in its scheme. Unless there's a breakdown of civilisation and scientific knowledge is lost somehow. Then it's possible I suppose. However the earth, the thing in itself is not essentially flat or round or anything. These are all constructs we impose upon it from different perspectives and for different reasons.

What is more probable is that at some time in the future mankind will discover a new way of looking at the earth which means that the description "the earth is round/a sphere" no longer seems adequate in the same way that "the earth is flat" does not seem an adequate description now. How could this happen? By their very nature scientific and technological innovations are impossible to predict. For the reason that to predict a future innovation is identical with coming up with the innovation itself. In short: I am no Einstein, but that doesn't stop me from reasonably predicting that future Einstein's will make comparable worldview altering discoveries. History teaches us that. I don't need to predict future innovations in order to reasonably predict that future innovations will occur. They have occurred throughout history. Why would that stop now, at this moment, for the first time ever? The onus is on positivists to explain that.

Humans have had many different ways of looking at the world over thousands of years. If ours is the last word on the subject then we have finally exhausted reality. Humility would dictate the presumption that it merely "appears" that way. Our way of looking at things appears natural to us, but will inevitably appear primitive to future people.

Plus there is the question of whether humans are equipped mentally to understand reality in a meaningful way that relates to the thing in itself rather than merely as a useful language game among ourselves. There is no good reason to suppose that Darwinian evolution would so equip us. We know it would be ridiculous to try to teach a dog the importance of recycling. Why do we assume human beings should be able to ask and answer questions about reality that relate to the thing in itself? Realists and positivists treat that as an obnoxious question. But that doesn't make it go away.

cofty

Why do we assume human beings should be able to ask and answer questions about reality that relate to the thing in itself? Realists and positivists treat that as an obnoxious question

Yep

We don't assume we can discover accurate facts about reality.

We prove we can by making predictions that work.

cofty

From certain perspectives it is flat of course. To the worm for example

No it isn't.

The worm is ignorant. We are not. The earth is approximately spherical and until the sun explodes it always will be.

You actually asked on another thread why the perspective of an astronaut regarding the shape of the earth is more valid than that of a worm. THAT is why I don't take you seriously.

slimboyfat

We prove we can by making predictions that work.

Inductive logic can never prove anything. Newtonian physics has tremendous predictive capacity and will pass most tests, until it fails. All models of reality are subject to the same problem. A model can pass a billion tests, and yet fail the next one. There is no way or ruling out the possibility.

The worm is ignorant. We are not. The earth is approximately spherical and until the sun explodes it always will be.

How do you know we are not both ignorant but in different ways? How do you know that a super intelligent being might not have a different way of looking at the earth which will make our way of looking at the earth as ignorant to him as the worm is from our perspective?

Saintbertholdt

Do I believe the earth is flat? It depends. From certain perspectives it is flat of course. To the worm for example. Surely most would not deny that.

Great Tautology.

Unfortunately not a very practical logic.

Can it solve any everyday problems?

cofty

I find semantic conversations to be tedious in the extreme.

Science works - The End

Good night

Proof the earth can be flat

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