Flat Earth?

[Chinahand]

We all have brains and minds and some ability to use them.

 

I tend to believe the vast majority of people aren't better or worse in how they use these abilities, but simply different - some are more creative, some more systematic, some with a wide range of interests and distractions, some fascinated by tiny facets of our lot, relevant or otherwise.

 

Saying which are better or worse is an exercise in bias and depends upon your prejudices.

 

But we are all prejudiced.

 

I personally lament the lack of critical thinking in the world.

 

Maynard Keynes brilliant speared Bertrand Russell's world view writing:

 

Bertie in particular sustained simultaneously a pair of opinions ludicrously incompatible. He held that in fact human affairs were carried on after a most irrational fashion, but that the remedy was quite simple and easy, since all we had to do was to carry them on rationally.

 

There isn't an easy way to apply this remedy and so ensure we carry on human affairs rationally - most are carried on in an irrational fashion and the result is a huge waste of human ability as instead of applying itself usefully to improve our lot it wastes itself in manias and obsessions which are nothing more than dead ends.

 

This thread is an example of this piece de resistance, and I am one of the major contributors to its waste.

 

Anyone with even basic familiarity of the facts of this earth would dismiss the idea the world is flat.

 

Holding such an opinion shows the person is either profoundly ignorant of the world, or irrational.

 

I, being the optimist, assume it is the former and proceed to provide explanation upon explanation to replace this ignorance with knowledge, but the reality would seem that Gerry etc isn't interested in knowledge if it contradicts their irrational beliefs.

 

So airline routes have to be fake, conspirators have to control and manipulate and the truth be hidden behind a veil of lies through which only Gerry can see, cherry picking his truths from the web of lies.

 

Ah well, such is the lot of the world, but it is a profound waste in my view that talents are wasted in believing such obsessions as these.

 

But what of my efforts to debunk them. Too many hours wasted banging against a brick wall. What an irrational waste of time ... but that is the wonderful irony of our world - at the core of rationality there is both irrationality and simple bias which will fail to explain the truth.

 

Google Godel (or Turing for its application to computing) to find out more.

 

As Turing proved it is impossible to always know just when some logical endeavour will halt. Who knows how long I'll keep banging my head against this brick wall.

[paul's got wright]

You can believe anything you want, but when you go on to insist on such belief being fact in the face of provable, demonstrable, repeatable, scientific evidence to the contrary, that's where the problems begin.

indeed x

[paul's got wright]

 

i'm not in the market Lao

 

 

I agree.

 

so your previous post was pointless then x

[paul's got wright]

We all have brains and minds and some ability to use them.

 

I tend to believe the vast majority of people aren't better or worse in how they use these abilities, but simply different - some are more creative, some more systematic, some with a wide range of interests and distractions, some fascinated by tiny facets of our lot, relevant or otherwise.

 

Saying which are better or worse is an exercise in bias and depends upon your prejudices.

 

But we are all prejudiced.

 

I personally lament the lack of critical thinking in the world.

 

Maynard Keynes brilliant speared Bertrand Russell's world view writing:

 

Bertie in particular sustained simultaneously a pair of opinions ludicrously incompatible. He held that in fact human affairs were carried on after a most irrational fashion, but that the remedy was quite simple and easy, since all we had to do was to carry them on rationally.

 

There isn't an easy way to apply this remedy and so ensure we carry on human affairs rationally - most are carried on in an irrational fashion and the result is a huge waste of human ability as instead of applying itself usefully to improve our lot it wastes itself in manias and obsessions which are nothing more than dead ends.

 

This thread is an example of this piece de resistance, and I am one of the major contributors to its waste.

 

Anyone with even basic familiarity of the facts of this earth would dismiss the idea the world is flat.

 

Holding such an opinion shows the person is either profoundly ignorant of the world, or irrational.

 

I, being the optimist, assume it is the former and proceed to provide explanation upon explanation to replace this ignorance with knowledge, but the reality would seem that Gerry etc isn't interested in knowledge if it contradicts their irrational beliefs.

 

So airline routes have to be fake, conspirators have to control and manipulate and the truth be hidden behind a veil of lies through which only Gerry can see, cherry picking his truths from the web of lies.

 

Ah well, such is the lot of the world, but it is a profound waste in my view that talents are wasted in believing such obsessions as these.

 

But what of my efforts to debunk them. Too many hours wasted banging against a brick wall. What an irrational waste of time ... but that is the wonderful irony of our world - at the core of rationality there is both irrationality and simple bias which will fail to explain the truth.

 

Google Godel (or Turing for its application to computing) to find out more.

 

As Turing proved it is impossible to always know just when some logical endeavour will halt. Who knows how long I'll keep banging my head against this brick wall.

you seem awfully paranoid about the fact that "flat earth" is still here china. you keep trying to bat it away, but like a pesky fly in the heat, it persists and seems to have caused you no end of irritation. you've lost your cool, and forfeited your manners a few times even.

MBESA is alive and well, yet you and others continue to pretend this isn't a real topic of debate. check the page/post figures. your unwarranted claims and assumptions hold no water, unlike the spinning ball of course. your claims lack that mystical, majikal force, er, what's it called, er , oh ye...................gravity! x

[manxman1980]

you seem awfully paranoid about the fact that "flat earth" is still here china. you keep trying to bat it away, but like a pesky fly in the heat, it persists and seems to have caused you no end of irritation. you've lost your cool, and forfeited your manners a few times even.

MBESA is alive and well, yet you and others continue to pretend this isn't a real topic of debate. check the page/post figures. your unwarranted claims and assumptions hold no water, unlike the spinning ball of course. your claims lack that mystical, majikal force, er, what's it called, er , oh ye...................gravity! x

 

 

Sorry, but it is you that relies on a "majikal" force in order to support your claims.

 

Actually, what are your claims? Your posts just seem to be a string if nonsensical statements with little of no purpose other than to try and wind other people up all the while preaching "peace and love". You try and hide behind a polite, innocent posting persona but I would suggest that you are simply a troll.

 

I would kindly ask you to cease your postings until you have something of value to add to erm.. well for want of a better word discussion.

[woolley]

I was expecting a large post from Chinahand.

I think you got full value, Albert.

[Chinahand]

your unwarranted claims and assumptions hold no water,

Care to give some details - what unwarranted claims?

[rmanx]

[the stinking enigma]

Bit harsh on chinahand there rmanx..you really have worked yourself into a tizzy today haven't you?

[manxman1980]

 

Even an Australian comedian understands what Gerry & Paul don't.

[rmanx]

Bit harsh on chinahand there rmanx..you really have worked yourself into a tizzy today haven't you?

 

Possibly a bit harsh...but you'd think he would have cottoned onto this game a bit sooner than 109+ pages

[Chinahand]

you seem awfully paranoid about the fact that "flat earth" is still here china. you keep trying to bat it away, but like a pesky fly in the heat, it persists and seems to have caused you no end of irritation.

It's not paranoia, it's annoyance and/or frustration.

 

An example of this is the simple acceptance of patently useless models to explain how the sun moves of a flat earth.

 

I've put up explanation after explanation how these models are useless - they do not explain reality, but that is just ignored.

 

I've just thought up another one, but I can't be bothered to do the maths, but PGW, just look at the youtube video you put up or Gerry's gif:

 

 

This is meant to be a model of the sun at the equinox - but just look at it, time the amount of daylight a single point on the earth is getting. Is there equal days and equal nights?

 

On the equinox, if you are on the equator, the sun will just raise straight up from the east, move up in the sky until it is directly above your head and then drop directly down to the west.

 

If you measured the angle of the sun with a sextant, you'd find the sun follows a constant bearing - directly east until it reaches the zenith, then directly west.

 

 

Just look at the picture - if you are on the equator does the model of the flat earth fit with reality?

 

PGW - you are a very difficult person to engage with because when asked questions like this you tend to go "I don't know".

 

You won't accept that the model is wrong.

 

The youtube video you put up looks really snazzy and sciency, but it totally fails to explain how the sun really moves in the sky.

 

Science is about predictive power. Can your assumptions and maths produce results which do useful things - like tell you the length of the day, or the height of the sun above the horizon.

 

The simple maths I've tried to explain to you aren't unwarranted assumptions - they have been shown to be highly useful ways of predicting actual facts about the world - for example how the sun moves through the sky on the equator at the equinox.

 

PGW - people accuse you of being a troll because you always evade issues.

 

Which model of the earth better explains the actual movement of the sun through the sky? The flat earth model or the spherical one.

 

Which one explains better the height of the sun above the horizon at noon?

 

You seem to be oblivious to the fact the flat earth model fails these tests dismally, while a spherical model can very accurately predict it.

 

I find your evasions on a simple issue like this fascinating - hence my asking you to say where my assumptions are unwarranted.

 

Are you actually going to engage in a discussion? Or is it just going to be more of the same?

[woolley]

You've done it now. You've told them you're annoyed and frustrated. That's exactly the object of the game.

[the stinking enigma]

I used to get that feeling when I was learning too..deep breaths China ..open your mind and allow it in

[Chinahand]

It's pretty obvious from my sarcasm and tone Woolley.

 

I'm still fascinated by the mind set of PGW and Gerry - I don't think they are deliberately trolling, but they do evade issues and arbitrarily dismiss evidence if it is counter to their view point.

 

The extent they do this makes any discussion very difficult hence the annoyance.