The title of this thread is somewhat misleading. What I mean is, the world is spherical AND the world is flat. I am suggesting that both of these are true, and that they are non-contradictory.

How is the world flat? For some people's entire lifetimes, so our cultural lore goes, people some centuries ago believed that the earth was flat. Actually, they must not only have believed that the world was flat; they must have experienced the world as flat in order to sustain that belief. And if THEY experienced the world as being flat, then it is very likely that today, all people, at least to SOME extent, experience the world as being flat.

I certainly do. If I could walk around the world, I might suspect that something other than flatness was going on. But I won't be walking much further than my own neighborhood, which - but for some slight inclines and declines - is flat, as far as I can tell. I mean, if I put a marble down on most of the streets, it won't roll anywhere.

So to my everyday experience, the world is (may as well be) flat. And if I place myself in any region the world, I will feel pretty much the same thing. Except for very local inclines and declines, of course. So for most practical purposes, the world is flat.

Now, I also know that I have ways of verifying that the world is spherical. Trusting in those ways, and maybe occasionally seeing them for myself, I also maintain that the world is spherical. For some of my purposes.

What I'm trying to suggest is that rather than replace our perspectives, individually and culturally, what really happens is that there is a diversification of our perspectives. The context changes, meaning changes. But an experience is not completely discarded; it takes a new place in a new whole. This says something about epistemology. Do you agree?

Ja. I agree. An experience is not to be discarded, but to be incorporated into a greater whole, just as the laws that govern macroscopic things have not been thrown out because we have plunged deeper into the microscopic, atomic, and quantum levels. The Earth is indeed spherical, but it is also "flat", yes.

I also agree that the world is flat. The way I would word this would be, that for every incline there is an exact decline. Every up has the exact same down therefore the earth must be flat.

An explanation is rational if it is in accord with the known evidence.

So for most practical purposes, the world is flat.
Is receiving a radio signal (FM) not practical? Are communications not practical?
There is a reason why we have satellites up there and I can't just wipe them out of the existence when I look up into the night's sky. ;)

notice the use of the word 'most'. the world is not, literally speaking, flat. but the curvature of the earth is so mind-numbingly huge that, except for a few purposes, it is, to your average 'user', flat.

notice the use of the word 'most'. the world is not, literally speaking, flat. but the curvature of the earth is so mind-numbingly huge that, except for a few purposes, it is, to your average 'user', flat.


the horizon is about 3 miles away on flat land isnt it?

On the water one can see buildings on land about 10 nautical miles away. However, I suspect that you are referring to the ancient belief of falling off the edge of the earth. This was a falsification to explain why the souls of people had to go to the west to climb on the Sun where they rode to Heaven. This belief was the result of loss of the left eye of Horus. The left eye of Horus (the planet Mars) is no longer present because it hit the North Magnetic Pole of the Earth in 11,000 BC.

Thomas Lee Taylor:

On the water one can see buildings on land about 10 nautical miles away. However, I suspect that you are referring to the ancient belief of falling off the edge of the earth. This was a falsification to explain why the souls of people had to go to the west to climb on the Sun where they rode to Heaven. This belief was the result of loss of the left eye of Horus. The left eye of Horus (the planet Mars) is no longer present because it hit the North Magnetic Pole of the Earth in 11,000 BC.

What? "It hit the North magnetic pole of the Earth in 11,000 BC"? What hit it?

If you never travel more than 1000 miles and haven't much to do with transport, telecom, astronomy, meterology, or geology, then it's alright to pretend the earth is flat. If you don't matter, it's ok to believe the world is flat. But the masses have always been ignorant, haven't they?

If you never travel more than 1000 miles and haven't much to do with transport, telecom, astronomy, meterology, or geology, then it's alright to pretend the earth is flat. If you don't matter, it's ok to believe the world is flat. But the masses have always been ignorant, haven't they?

Well, we are all relatively ignorant. But that's beside the point. The point is that even YOU believe that the world is flat because, and whenever, you experience its flatness, even while you ALSO experience (and think of) the world as spherical.

I experience its flatness? It may be the fatigue, but I'm giggling. Something of an absurd notion. It's assumed that flatness means I cannot fall of, correct? That upon a flat surface, I am perpindicular to the surface, because of the local gratiational reference point.

Holy cow I'm babbling.

You're making 'flatness' some sort of transental notion or something. Your definition of flat assumes gravity and locality. But since my experience of flatness is actually of a tiny fraction of cruvedness, perhaps what you really think of as flat is actually round? You actually believe roundness.

if the world is flat, does it have an edge from which to fall? i will journey to find this end; if i do not happen upon it i will assume that the world is infinate and be equally content. who's in?

I experience its flatness? It may be the fatigue, but I'm giggling. Something of an absurd notion. It's assumed that flatness means I cannot fall of, correct? That upon a flat surface, I am perpindicular to the surface, because of the local gratiational reference point.

Holy cow I'm babbling.

You're making 'flatness' some sort of transental notion or something. Your definition of flat assumes gravity and locality. But since my experience of flatness is actually of a tiny fraction of cruvedness, perhaps what you really think of as flat is actually round? You actually believe roundness.

Yes, you're right. Actually I do believe roundness. And flatness.

if the world is flat, does it have an edge from which to fall? i will journey to find this end; if i do not happen upon it i will assume that the world is infinate and be equally content. who's in?

I'm in. Where do we start. And how do we get across the water?

good question. i've always wondered what the life of a letter in a bottle was like, but it would be tough to cork yourself in and toss yourself to sea. we need a ship with a sail, or lungs that can breathe underwater. or perhaps all we need is a shore upon which to start from. any thoughts?

good question. i've always wondered what the life of a letter in a bottle was like, but it would be tough to cork yourself in and toss yourself to sea. we need a ship with a sail, or lungs that can breathe underwater. or perhaps all we need is a shore upon which to start from. any thoughts?

How about the tip of Baja California?

trip down south then?