science Is the earth spherical or flat?

[Phoenix_Fire 2]

Even if the world was a disc, the gravity would soon cause the entire disc world to collapse into a sphere again.

[Discordian 6,015]

The moment I saw the word "conspiracy" in this topic I knew this was a load of horse shit. Conspiracy theorists come up with the most ludicrous things and it's pretty much a rule of thumb to ignore them if you're looking for any sort of information on a subject.

[Envy 6,169]

Of course the Earth is flat. What you sciency people call "stars" are also nothing more than the light of heaven shining through tiny holes.

 

No, seriously... We're having this discussion in 2016? Still, I wonder why we're even having discussions over evolution as if it's something controversial in 2016, as well.

[Guest]

I think the earth is a steaming pile of garbage that humans have turned it into.

[Anneal 2,197]

Of course the Earth is flat. What you sciency people call "stars" are also nothing more than the light of heaven shining through tiny holes.

 

No, seriously... We're having this discussion in 2016? Still, I wonder why we're even having discussions over evolution as if it's something controversial in 2016, as well.

Of course the Earth is flat. If you're a cosmic ray particle, the Earth would only be 17 meters wide. If it was the speed of light, you would see a flat disc. 

[Envy 6,169]

I think the earth is a steaming pile of garbage that humans have turned it into.

 

Always the positive one.

 

You're starting to make me look not so negative. That's...not something you want to achieve. =P

[Guest]

Always the positive one.

 

You're starting to make me look not so negative. That's...not something you want to achieve. =P

 

Try realistic.

 

Take a look around you, we live in a shopping mall here in America.

[Anneal 2,197]

Try realistic.

 

Take a look around you, we live in a shopping mall here in America.

 

Pessimist ≠ realist. If you mean literal shopping malls, most of them are already dying, most of them are in the Rust Belt and East Coast (though still doing fine in the West), and most Americans aren't into materialistic ideas as we think; in fact, a good deal of people oppose it. There are also people who believe the economy we have in the U.S. is alright, though it can be improved...

 

But we're going off topic here. You kind of really weren't answering the question in the first place. 

[Guest]

Pessimist ≠ realist. If you mean literal shopping malls, most of them are already dying, most of them are in the Rust Belt and East Coast (though still doing fine in the West), and most Americans aren't into materialistic ideas as we think; in fact, a good deal of people oppose it. There are also people who believe the economy we have in the U.S. is alright, though it can be improved...

 

But we're going off topic here. You kind of really weren't answering the question in the first place. 

 

I'm not being pessimistic, I'm being realistic thank you very much. Would appreciate if you didn't try to tell me what I am and I'll do the same for you.

 

Realistically we took a nice piece of land and covered it with buildings, malls, run down neighborhoods etc. I think the earth was doing just fine before we showed up to cover it with what we call "civilization". That's my opinion though.

 

That being said anyone who still believes the earth is flat is another soul that the education system has blatantly failed.

[Anneal 2,197]

That being said anyone who still believes the earth is flat is another soul that the education system has blatantly failed.

 

I don't think humans are inherently turned the Earth into a bad place, and there are people who do acknowledge how much we've messed up and we call that the environmentalist movement, which has an overwhelming amount of support, at least in where I live, where no one is that ignorant to claim that global warming is a hoax or whatever. We're already having a drought right now.

 

Also, virtually no one believes the world is flat...relative to us. As the question says though, it's not spherical either. Unless it suddenly stopped rotating. 

[Discordian 6,015]

I'm not being pessimistic, I'm being realistic thank you very much. Would appreciate if you didn't try to tell me what I am and I'll do the same for you.

 

Realistically we took a nice piece of land and covered it with buildings, malls, run down neighborhoods etc. I think the earth was doing just fine before we showed up to cover it with what we call "civilization". That's my opinion though.

 

That being said anyone who still believes the earth is flat is another soul that the education system has blatantly failed.

Natural land is extremely hazardous to human life in many cases. We have to learn to survive in it. A lot of the conveniences of being able to walk down the road without having to watch for wild animals and toxic plantlife only benefits us. We have professionals who make our food for us so we don't have to hope that what we're eating isn't gonna kill us.

 

So yeah, you're being a bit pessimistic if you think spreading a near-optimal living situation is the same thing as creating a collection of waste. Our lives are easier overall now because of it and I personally would prefer a life where the dangers of nature are nonexistent.

[Guest]

Natural land is extremely hazardous to human life in many cases. We have to learn to survive in it. A lot of the conveniences of being able to walk down the road without having to watch for wild animals and toxic plantlife only benefits us. We have professionals who make our food for us so we don't have to hope that what we're eating isn't gonna kill us.

 

So yeah, you're being a bit pessimistic if you think spreading a near-optimal living situation is the same thing as creating a collection of waste. Our lives are easier overall now because of it and I personally would prefer a life where the dangers of nature are nonexistent.

I was originally just trying to make a joke since this isn't the debate pit, a little bit of silliness is permitted, until of course someone has to come in and overanalyze it.

 

Let's just drop it and move on.

[Discordian 6,015]

@@Key Sharkz,

 

Just because it's not the debate pit doesn't mean a conversation can't turn into one. Why restrict a conversation like that?

[Guest]

@@Key Sharkz,Just because it's not the debate pit doesn't mean a conversation can't turn into one. Why restrict a conversation like that?

That's not my call.

 

I've gotten warned in the past for turning stuff into debates, thus I do not turn conversations outside the debate pit into debates. It's also rude to do so because if people wanted a debate they'd make a topic in the debate pit.

 

That being said we're off topic, let us just drop it, please.

[twiia 1,843]

Okay, why do people still believe this? It is kinda stupid, no offense

[GenderIsAnIllusion 2,177]

Its a ball. People in ancient times also knew this. they figured this out by noticing that objects coming towards you from the horizon on a seeminlg flat surface seemed to rise out of the ground, meaning that the earths surface has to have a curvature. Gravity also proves we have a spherical planet... You see, gravity always pulls an object towards a masses center of gravity, and if our world was a disk, near the edges, objects would fall at an angle instead of straight down.

[Anneal 2,197]

Its a ball. People in ancient times also knew this. they figured this out by noticing that objects coming towards you from the horizon on a seeminlg flat surface seemed to rise out of the ground, meaning that the earths surface has to have a curvature. Gravity also proves we have a spherical planet... You see, gravity always pulls an object towards a masses center of gravity, and if our world was a disk, near the edges, objects would fall at an angle instead of straight down.

 

Though the Earth still rotates, which means it's not spherical. It's very slightly elliptical, mostly because of centripetal force. 

 

But yes, people have known that the Earth is, um, "spherical" for millennia. 

[GenderIsAnIllusion 2,177]

Though the Earth still rotates, which means it's not spherical. It's very slightly elliptical, mostly because of centripetal force. 

 

But yes, people have known that the Earth is, um, "spherical" for millennia. 

 

Ahh indeed that is correct.... Slightly squished..... Idk, calling it a ball has a better ring to it... I just wonder where people, in todays world ever got the notion that the earth was flat.

[Invincible 2,091]

Technically, I heard of some evidence proving it's something elliptical-spherical in shape, but yeah that's still spherical.

 

Don't just listen to random people; look into the research and judge for yourself. It's mostly there for your education anyway.

[Blackshirt Brony 415]

What if the disc is thicker near the edges? It's flat on top but volcano shaped underneath.

 

While I'm admittedly not qualified to work that type of math, I'm sure the general concept is relatively the same. The center of mass would be a lot more inconsistent than on a somewhat more round planet.

 

Maybe the Earth is actually upside down and gravity is just us being crushed against the floor.

[Dark Qiviut 22,426]

If it were flat, then why is the ocean's "flat" horizon line not perfectly straight? The Earth is a sphere and has always been a sphere. It hasn't been a debate since the dawn of time. Anyone who claims is flat is lying.

 

NASA pictures can't be trusted. They are from a government organization so they are automatically suspect.

They 1,000,000-trillion-gazillion-percent more trustworthy than any conspiracy theorist group who believes the Earth is flat.

[Justin_Case001 4,891]

No one is under any obligation to respect theories like this.  The flat earth theory deserves no respect.  I don't think much else needs to be added, here.

 

Fun fact: if you could scale the Earth down to something small enough to fit in your hand, its surface would be smoother than a billiard ball.  I.e. the distance between the peak of Everest and the bottom of the Mariana Trench would be less than the imperfections on a billiard ball.

[Blackshirt Brony 415]

...

 

They 1,000,000-trillion-gazillion-percent more trustworthy than any conspiracy theorist group who believes the Earth is flat.

 

That they happen to be wrong does not make them less "trustworthy." Most people do not trust the president, congress, the Federal Reserve, the CIA, etc. NASA should be no different.

 

The Earth is most obviously not flat, but if one were to only quote NASA, it would be a sort of argument from authority.

 

No one is under any obligation to respect theories like this.  The flat earth theory deserves no respect.  I don't think much else needs to be added, here.

 

...

 

I do respect it, if only because there are so many people who probably couldn't explain why the Earth isn't flat if they were asked. It's also important to remember that some of this is satirical.

[shy0wl 484]

Surprised nobody posted this yet:

 

If you haven't watched it, you should.  Because Vsauce.

[Member Berry 1,217]

Some people are fuckwits.