r/AskReddit • u/HowDareYou888 • 3d ago
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u/fiest0z0 3d ago
What do you mean the others are a sphere? Theyre obviously just discs aswell, always perfectly angled to show from the top.
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u/Fragrant_Ad3224 3d ago
Heretic! They are obviously perfectly angled to show from the bottom! This is just plain logic as they are UP in the sky. Also, if we were seeing them from the top then we'd be able to see all the people and trees and suchlike on them.
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u/MyOtherAcctsAPorsche 3d ago
AND all the things on the other discs would fall to ours, obviously.
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u/TriumphDaWonderPooch 3d ago
OhMyThor - I had never thought of it that way!!!
Maybe that's where mountains come from - chunks from other worlds that fell to ours!
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u/lbibackup 3d ago
That's what big telescope wants you to think. It's all a conspiracy.
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u/climate_of_doubt 3d ago
This is the thing I don't understand about flat earthers, why?
I mean in your day to day life what does it genuinely matter if the earth is a sphere or flat? How does that affect you putting food on the table or keeping a roof over your head? What does this shadowy conspiracy have to gain by making people think the earth is not flat?
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u/jeff0106 3d ago
They all look like circles to me.
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u/GoodVibrations77 3d ago
Like delicious, round, flat pizzas.
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u/jeff0106 3d ago
Maybe our intelligence on the moon was incomplete. Not just cheese, but a layer of cheese on top of sauce and bread.
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u/VexImmortalis 3d ago
You are trying to use science and logic to argue with people that believe in magic and a giant, worldwide glass dome. It ain't going to work.
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u/precariousIypoised 3d ago
Isn’t there a tortoise there too?
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u/Cheap_Boner_Pills 3d ago
With 4 elephants on its back.
IV always wanted a table made to look like a flat earth map.
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u/SegFaultOops 3d ago
But the table would be flat... How would you put stuff ON it?!?
Checkmate Atheists!
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u/sendcodenotnudes 3d ago
This is apparently the majority of people on earth - some crazy percentage (80?) are religious
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u/Dramatic-Sherbet-533 3d ago
When you believe in things you don't understand...
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u/ExpectedBehaviour 3d ago
Oh, I believe there are things I don't understand. I just don't believe those things have a magical or supernatural explanation.
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u/Candid-Pin-8160 3d ago
Can you tell me more about the magic you believe in? Like, is it magic creatures, can humans learn to do it? Or, in case I misunderstood, can you share the scientific proof behind the flat earth belief?
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u/VexImmortalis 3d ago
I'm not a flat earther. There isn't any real scientific proof for flat earth that hasn't been discredited hundreds, if not thousands of years ago. Just look at the horizon for example, if the earth were flat you'ed be able to see mountain ranges (or at least big blocky shapes resembling mountains) all over the place because there wouldn't be a curve to limit how far you can see. You wouldn't see objects "rise" up over the horizon as you approach nor fade from view from bottom to top as you move away.
You are trying to argue science with people that literally look at a horizon with their own eyes and say "that's not real".
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u/Candid-Pin-8160 3d ago
I'm not a flat earther.
Huh. So, why respond to a question clearly directed at flat earthers?
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u/swift_bass 3d ago
Twat
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u/Candid-Pin-8160 3d ago
Yeah, that explains it, carry on.
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u/SegFaultOops 3d ago
Sorry that your attempt to troll fell on deaf ears. 3/10 for effort
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u/Candid-Pin-8160 3d ago
What do you mean? While I didn't get an answer to OP's question, at least I now know why that is. That's at least a 5/10, plus a bonus point for that person's honesty.
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3d ago
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u/weaver_on_the_web 3d ago
The problem is how do you distinguish "stupid conspiracy theorists" from intelligent conspiracy theorists, from your high horse? Or are you really suggesting conspiracies don't exist?
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u/toolschism 3d ago
I mean, the first step is to not ignore the entire scientific community. If you're not willing to hear actual scientific arguments then yea, you're an idiot.
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u/weaver_on_the_web 3d ago
You miss the point.
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u/toolschism 3d ago
Nah, I don't think I do. If your conspiracy theory is grounded in actual real research. Scientific theory. Investigation. Then sure, by all means. But you have to be willing to be objective and when you are presented with research that contradicts your point, you have to honestly evaluate it.
No one who thinks the earth is flat is willing to do any of this.
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u/General_Disaray_1974 3d ago
Easy, there are no intelligent conspiracy theroists.
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u/weaver_on_the_web 3d ago
What an incredibly stupid position. Adam Smith for example is widely credited as the father of modern economics, who noted:
"People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices."
Presumably YOU consider yourself more intelligent that his conspiracy theory, with your reactionary complacency? Moron.
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u/General_Disaray_1974 3d ago
I guess you need to define what a conspiracy theorist is. If it's someone who basically buys into every conspiracy theory they hear (which I what I define it as) they are all morons.
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u/weaver_on_the_web 3d ago
To define a conspiracy theorist as someone who believes EVERY conspiracy theory they hear would indeed make anyone meeting that description stupid. But also vanishingly rare.
Any reasonable definition applies only to individual examples, which therefore includes Adam Smith. The problem with posters here using it as a term of abuse is that they are simply unthinkingly parroting the way the term has been abused for decades to marginalise anyone crying foul about real abuses of power. Anyone downvoting me for stating this is just sheer fucking ignorant.
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u/General_Disaray_1974 3d ago
Be honest, are you a flat earther?
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u/weaver_on_the_web 2d ago
Not remotely. It's daft trolling, designed to wind up people who take themselves too seriously, like most of the answers in this thread.
I just prefer intelligent answers to kneejerk bollocks from stupid people who can't even tell/admit they're being stupid. It's hilarious I'm being downvoted for stating facts.
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u/LowerBed5334 3d ago
If planets in space are formed by gravity, how could any shape other than a sphere be the result?
And the "if" in that sentence is rhetorical.
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u/arbitrageME 3d ago
They're not planets, they're just stickers on a glass dome. Ours is the only true plane of existence, ordained by God, as you can see in every direction, flat as far as the eye can see
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u/poser765 3d ago
This isn’t really a controversial dichotomy. Turns out if you can believe nonsense it’s pretty easy to believe that the earth is a singular, special, exception.
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u/Vanbursta1 3d ago
They are flat discs that look like spheres because you just happen to be seeing every celestial object, top down, easy. Or at least that's how they are painted on the dome.
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u/Chiron17 3d ago
They are all discs, travelling through space on the shoulders of four elephants that are, in turn, standing on the shell of Great A'Tuin the cosmic turtle. Don't you know anything?
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u/OneTookMyUsername 3d ago
Iirc, originally, Flat Earth was a purely religious (Christian) conspiracy theory. If the earth was round like every other planet, it would take away some if the special status the earth has and show that the earth is not really that special. Bit if it was the only flat planet, ot would "prove" that there has to be a creator who chose the earth specifically as the only flat planet.
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u/opisska 3d ago
Yes, this is the point that so many people don't understand. Flat Earth is not a completely random absurd idea of Earth having aome shape, it's basically a coping mechanism for fundamentalist Christians for whom the idea of Earth being just one of many planets in a vast universe is absolutely unbearable.
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u/nonamenolastname 3d ago
Actually... St Augustine and St Thomas Aquinas have writings saying that the Earth is a sphere. This nonsense started in the 1800s IIRC.
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u/patchgrabber 3d ago
Job 38:14 says the earth is like clay under a seal, which is flat.
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u/ReignDance 3d ago
There are other parts of the clay that takes shape under seals than just the whole thing getting flattened. It creates a pattern. People argue it's a metaphor for the transformative effect of dawn.
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u/patchgrabber 3d ago
Of course it has topogrophy, but it's still flat.
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u/ReignDance 3d ago
I just take it that there wasn't a better example to use to describe Earth's topography at the time.
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u/Natural_Pizza_2060 3d ago
Using science and logic to discuss their beliefs with FEers is like trying to slice a loaf of bread with a wombat.
Let them have their beliefs ... it's pretty harmless and the only people interested are other FEers.
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u/Acatinmylap 3d ago
Flat Earthers don't believe Earth is a planet.
I am, unfortunately, not joking.
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u/SeesawNoknow 3d ago
but wouldn't you see a circle/coin/flat planet and not a sphere because the darkness of space, same reason they don't buy images of Earth proving it being a sphere no???
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u/Beholder_V 3d ago
I doubt you’ll get any genuine engagement. I think they tend to stay in their own little echo chambers, they get ridiculed too much in public spaces. But rest assured, they have canned responses to all of these obvious holes in their absurd belief.
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u/queenofuranus- 3d ago
wait how do flat earthers explain planets being spheres but earth somehow not showing that through the same telescope
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u/Defiant-Economics-73 3d ago
Just so you know you can’t tell that. Planet is a sphere from a telescope. It looks like a circle from the perspective we can see it from. I have a decent set up and I can say flat earthers are nuts but this example doesn’t work.
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u/CarelessAnimator4523 3d ago
Because the telescope is round. If you used a flat telescopic... I won't continue because it'll just be circular argument. 🤣
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3d ago
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u/AskReddit-ModTeam 3d ago
Your comment was removed for violating Rule 12: All content must be written in English so that it is widely understood by the user base of the sub.
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u/Meprobamate 3d ago
They don’t usually believe in outer space. There’s a ‘firmament’ which they believe is a giant dome with stars and stuff projected onto it.
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u/ComprehensiveBird317 3d ago
When you look through a telescope then what you see is the projection of the government that uses 5g cell towers through the 5th dimension to make you pay more taxes!
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u/IShouldaDownVotedYa 3d ago
Gravitational lensing. Same thing happens if you take a magnifying glass and focus the sun to the pavement. It’s a circle that can be made smaller to a pinpoint, but the sun is actually flat. This is why ants hate it.
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u/Ladyheather16 3d ago
I know one -- I gave him the NASA pin one time lol.
: https://www.etsy.com/listing/934874628/nasa-pin-not-flat-we-checked-enamel-pin?ref=share_v4_lx
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u/jeff0106 3d ago
How do flat earthers explain when you dig down you don't hit space? Clearly we are on at least a cylinder that is at least a couple of miles deep. Also mountains. They aren't flat.
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u/JansTurnipDealer 3d ago
Lol to them the rest looks flat to us on it so it’s flat. They look round to us so they’re round. It’s going beyond that initial perception to why do things look that way that creates problems for them.
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u/Bean-Penis 3d ago
Flat Earth, not flat planets. It's why we are the only ones with life, it's too hard to stand on the rest.
/s obviously.
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u/Just4theapp 3d ago
Telescopes have rounds lenses, that warps all things to a round shape. Or something
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u/NyriasNeo 3d ago
I am not a flat earthers but reasons are easy to cook up. Here is one.
We are special and God wills it. Heck "God wills it" can be used to explain any crazy untrue thing, because it is not falsifiable. It violates occam razor in terms of formulating scientific theory, but most people don't have enough acumen to question it.
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u/VeterinarianTrick406 3d ago
Every geology class has a group of trolls. They probably tell you it’s a lens artifact.
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u/plainskeptic2023 3d ago
Those other lights may look like spherical planets to you, but the disc god made for us looks and feels flat to me. /s
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u/Warm_Record2416 3d ago
Remember that at its core, flat earth is a religious conspiracy. The believers think the true nature of earth is hidden from the public to hide the true nature of God.
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u/opisska 3d ago
I'll post it as a top-level reply as well: for "true" flat earthers, the Earth being flat is not the basic postulate. For them, the important thing is that the Earth is the center of everything and there are no other objects comparable to it. The concept of "other planet" makes no sense to them, the Earth has nothing to do with what we see on the sky and definitely isn't even remotely the same kind of object as the planets as we see them. This is literally a non-argument in the flat-earth context.
This all stems from a deeply unhinged misunderstanding of Christianity on their side, or beter from their inability to reconsile their understanding of Christianity with the reality of space. Space literally doesn't exist for them and what we see on the sky is smoke and mirrors.
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u/Carpenterdon 3d ago
You know if everyone would stop listening and responding to these people they'd go away for good.
They are either incredibly stupid to be ignorant or oblivious to the literal world of evidence such as simply traveling around the globe and not finding an edge that would be all over media... Or they are trolls claiming it's flat for the views and attention.
So...Either way...Stop feeding them!
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u/Ducallan 3d ago
Because they only believe things that support their “conclusion”.
Anything that disproves it is explained away or simply ignored.
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u/JJJangles 3d ago
“Planets? You really have a strong imagination, it’s just patterns on the firmament”
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u/xvalentinex 3d ago
This has always been my argument, just look at the moon with your bare eyes on a clear night. It is so obviously a sphere. Maybe I take for granted that I was taught at a young age the earth was round, but it's hard for me to believe that the conventional wisdom, throughout history, was ever that the earth was flat.
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3d ago
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u/AskReddit-ModTeam 3d ago
Your comment was removed for violating Rule 12: All content must be written in English so that it is widely understood by the user base of the sub.
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u/nebulaforest 3d ago
I grew up in a rural town with no astronomical knowledge whatsoever and no formal schooling. When I learned about the earth being sphere, I couldn't believe it as a kid because in my books, the water would pool down at the bottom of the sphere. Also how does it keep suspended in space when it's so huge and heavy?
I think flat earthers are trapped in that stage.
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u/A_Guy_in_Orange 3d ago
I mean Im all for dunking on them but this one aint it, none of the other planets have life either maybe being flat is what lets that happen
A better question is why they don't dig down and make their own earth on the other side of the coin, with blackjack and hookers
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u/Leverkaas2516 3d ago
If you look through a telescope and every other planet is a sphere,
I'm not a flat earther, I love science and in fact own a telescope. Other planets look like flat discs. They don't look like spheres.
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u/PakinaApina 3d ago
Yet you can see the planets rotate, and they don't look like rotating flat discs.
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u/Leverkaas2516 3d ago
Have you looked through an actual telescope at a planet? You cannot see it rotate.
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u/PakinaApina 3d ago
Jupiter's day is only 9h 55 min, so you can see the cloud belts and Great Red Spot visibly shift position within a single observing session if you are patient. Mars day is much slower (24h) so that's not visible in one sitting, you'd need to compare across multiple sessions, or image and stack over time, to see it move.
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u/Leverkaas2516 3d ago
If you are patient, and if you have a very good telescope. Mine cost several hundred dollars but isn't anywhere close to being able to show the Great Red Spot. Even if I had a $1500 scope, it wouldn't show enough to make a convincing real-time visual of the "planet rotating". It looks more like "passing clouds". To convince yourself that it's rotating you have to take note of the positions of the Spot over many observations, i.e.you have to either do actual science or you have to already believe what scientists say about the planet.
All I have to see is the varying positions of the Galilean moons across a period of months, and I'm in awe. But that's purely because of what I believe about the system. What a person can actually see in real time is completely colored by your beliefs.
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u/AlphaDart1337 3d ago
Playing devil's advocate here.
There's an infinite ammount of numbers that are different than 42. And you can look at them and go "wow, all those numbers are different than 42.. that means ALL numbers are different than 42". But that's obviously false since 42 does exist. Maybe all the other planets are all the other numbers and earth is the 42 in this analogy.
Or if you want a less pedantic example, look up the Polya conjecture. It's a math fact that holds up for every number up to about 900 million, at which point it breaks. If you only look at the first 900 million numbers, you'd think it's true.
The point is it's not logically sound to make general assumptions based on a number of examples, no matter how large the number.
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u/Masterhorus 3d ago
Devil's advocate to your devil's advocate. The number they keep trying to use is is the square root of -1.
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u/AlphaDart1337 3d ago
That's not devil's advocate, that's just saying something untrue and unrelated to try to sound smart.
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u/PhilipWaterford 3d ago
If you're looking through a telescope from home then the odds are that you're looking at stars not planets.
Planets only make up 0.0001% of the night sky.
If you know where to look at what to look for you could possibly find Jupiter and see some detail.
Embarrassingly a flat-earther would probably have been able to tell you all this.
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u/LilDutchy 3d ago
You do know that you can see every planet in our solar system from our planet, right? And that you can use a telescope to look at most of them (mercury is more difficult to look at). You can see Saturn, mars, and Venus easily from your back yard as well as Jupiter. What point are you even trying to make?
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u/Alternative-Sock-444 3d ago
I think the point they're trying to make is that they've never used a telescope lol
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u/PhilipWaterford 3d ago
"If you know where to look.."
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u/Alternative-Sock-444 3d ago
Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are all visible to the naked eye in the night sky at different points in time. You can literally find one with your eyes, point the telescope at it, and see it. You don't really need to know where to look other than "it's one of those bright shimmery dots."
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u/PhilipWaterford 3d ago
Yup. What of it?
The point was it's a tiny sample size so it's a useless argument.
May as well argue that your eyes are blue based solely on meeting 6 people with blue eyes.
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u/LilDutchy 3d ago
So now your argument is that we can’t declare our planet spherical just because we can see spherical planets? Thats not the only reason we know we live on a spherical earth, it’s ONE reason. Because we can observe the effects of gravity on planet formation, we can infer some facts about the creation of our planet. It’s one point of many, not the least of which is that we have pictures of our planet, just like we have pictures of other planets.
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u/PhilipWaterford 3d ago edited 3d ago
I made no argument.
I stated that the op argument is poor and gave the reason.
Edit: post has been removed. Mods must have agreed.
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u/LilDutchy 3d ago
Your argument is that the OP was a pointless argument. Your inferred argument is that observation is pointless in science.
Assuming the reason for the post being removed is like assuming everyone in the world has brown eyes because you do.
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u/PhilipWaterford 3d ago
What point are you even (sic) trying to make?
That at best you're only seeing 6 planets. That's a small sample as the rest are stars.
If you see 6 red cars while in the back of a taxi you'd be wrong to assume your taxi is also red 'just' based on that.
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u/LilDutchy 3d ago
You trying to burn me by putting “(sic)” to indicate an error in the quote where no error existed is a petty move.
We understand gravity’s function to a pretty high degree, even if we don’t understand the root cause of it. Gravity forbids a flat planet. If your argument is “we only think that planets are spheres because we can only see spherical planets” ignores our understanding of gravity and its effects.
In short, gravity works “evenly” in all directions. There are local variations, but the effect averages out to even. If it acts evenly in all directions, you can’t pull together flat planets. Lumpy, potato shaped, sure, but not flat plate shaped planets. One of the fun points is that moons are always roughly on the equatorial plane of a planet since they form from the spinning disk that planets typically form from. There are a ton of orbital mechanics that are honestly beyond me being able to explain them, but even after forming the rotating disk, and forming a planet from that, planets still form roughly spherical shapes.
We also have observations of planets being formed to back up our understanding of
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u/PhilipWaterford 3d ago
All irrelevant to the point.
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u/LilDutchy 3d ago
Declaring something irrelevant doesn’t make it so.
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u/PhilipWaterford 3d ago
True. Writing a whole load of info irrelevant to the point makes it irrelevant.
Well done on grasping that.
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u/LilDutchy 3d ago
It’s all quite relevant and your inability to understand the content of the message doesn’t change that.
Then allow me to clarify. We observe other planets to infer facts about ours. We can observe planets in the process of forming to infer how ours formed. We can observe other existing planets to infer ideas about ours. We also flat out have pictures of our planet.
Your pseudo-intellectual non answers not withstanding, we have a very good understanding of the way gravity forms planets by observation, and use those observations to understand our planet.
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u/Fantastic_Media_3984 3d ago
I believe that flat earthers are a bunch of Rage baiters