Flat Earth obsession

Originally Posted by Cabbage

Why would it matter if the earth was flat or round?

From a practical and modern perspective it matters. There would be different solutions to a host of projects like engineering, surveying, navigation, telecommunications, weather forecasting, GPS, to name a few.

[Found Goat]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

I have traveled in one direction around the World and found myself returning where I begun. How could that have been done on a flat Earth?

It sounds to me like this might be a case of circular reasoning (pun intended), for it starts with the presumption that Earth is globular. A flat-earther could easily apply the same argument, that travel in one direction long enough and one will reach one of the four ends of the earth. You mean to say you yourself went all "around" the world? Was this by foot? By motor vehicle? By hot-air balloon?

What if all those mysterious disappearances of airplanes that have lost their way and gone missing over the years has something to do with the flat-earth model?

[Gem]

Originally Posted by Found Goat

It sounds to me like this might be a case of circular reasoning (pun intended), for it starts with the presumption that Earth is globular. A flat-earther could easily apply the same argument, that travel in one direction long enough and one will reach one of the four ends of the earth. You mean to say you yourself went all "around" the world? Was this by foot? By motor vehicle? By hot-air balloon?
What if all those mysterious disappearances of airplanes that have lost their way and gone missing over the years has something to do with the flat-earth model?

On a flat circle world, you can only circumnavigate exactly East West (staying the same distance from the central North Pole). On a globe you can go all the way around in a perfect circle in any direction. This is a big problem for the flat Earth conspiracy because it disproves the model on so many levels.

[Found Goat]

I here recall the experience of a man who, seated one day inside a planetarium, whilst looking up at the ceiling of a simulation of the starry heavens above, the thought occurred to him how very vault-like the whole thing appeared, enough to get him to wonder if we might be living under such an arch-like enclosure of sorts, akin to a dome, a word which Bible scholars have traced to meaning firmament. Possibly the whole purpose of these awe-inspiring indoor amusements is a way for the perpetuators, for sheer fun, to consciously tip their hand so to speak, as to the reality of perhaps one of the greatest deceptions of our time, in much the same way that an illusionist can make his observer look at everything but what is in plain sight before him.

[Found Goat]

Originally Posted by Gem

On a flat circle world, you can only circumnavigate exactly East West (staying the same distance from the central North Pole). On a globe you can go all the way around in a perfect circle in any direction. This is a big problem for the flat Earth conspiracy because it disproves the model on so many levels.

No one is disputing that one cannot traverse the Earth from start to end point in one direction using a flat model, but I wonder if this has ever been done even on a supposed globular earth and, if so, how and by whom? (Shamans and astral travelers do not count. I'm speaking only of those in physical bodies.)

[BigJohn]

How far does one have to travel to get to the edge of the Earth?

How come nobody has written about this?

[Found Goat]

One can get lost in debating and magnifying the finer, technical aspects of these two competing theories to the point of perhaps missing the forest. My own interest in this is primarily from a detached, theoretical, and broader perspective, and to get to the bottom of answering the questions of Who? and Why?, assuming for a moment that the flat-earth model is true.

What I find intriguing is the number of early fathers of modern-day science who were every bit as mystical as they were rational, and of whom empiricists of today continue to base much of their own knowledge on.

Although not outright monotheists, these men tended to be deists, believers in a universal creator; incidentally, one of the main requirements among the devotees of the Square & Compass.

More than this, however, these early 'Enlightenment' thinkers melded together their metaphysical musings in with their empirical studies. Isaac Newton was both an alchemist and an occultist, to offer one such example.

Among the Geometry Worshippers, the circle was considered to be of perfect shape, divine; so why not the Earth, too?

Anyone who has delved into arcane explorations is sure to have come across the Mystery Schools; those keepers of esoteric knowledge and secrets. These schools were strong influencers among thinkers of the Greco-Roman period. Although the ancient Greek poet, Homer, was said to have been a flat-earther, as time progressed the doctrine of the ball-earth began to gain momentum among the elites. Pythagorus, one of the earliest proponents of the ball-earth model, just so happened to be a disciple of the Mystery Schools himself -- students who were mystics more than anything else. The list goes on and on. Science originally based the "circumference" of the Earth on Eratosthenes' supposed findings, which were at best mere speculation.

Mars, Jupiter, Venus, planets all named after Greco-Roman gods -- ancient peoples who worshipped an entire pantheon of mythological (or some might say demonic) deities.

The globular model, according to this background and context, is one more steeped in paganism than it ever was in hard science. Outside of Hebraic cosmology, there would be a perfect explanation for the so-called illuminated ones to want to advance an heliocentric system.

This system -- as with the theory of evolution -- has become so ingrained in the modern Zeitgeist that the flat-earth model is practically regarded as absolute heresy in the minds of the majority, who don't even dare to question established orthodoxy.

At this time I remain an agnostic on this, but I do wonder if perhaps there are millions of flat-earthers out there, more than just the few who have come forward, who have chosen to keep silent, possibly fearful of their being ridiculed or discriminated against if ever to confess their doubts, or possibly even afraid of provoking another Inquisition, only this time one led by Almighty Scientism.

[Gem]

Couple off problems there.

1) There are no competing models. If there were competing models there would be two different models that both explain everything. There is one model that can't explain even the most basic things and another model that explains everything. That's why we discard the first model and accept the other one.
2) Eratosthenes wasn't just speculating. He took measurements and did maths to work out the circumference.

[Gem]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

How far does one have to travel to get to the edge of the Earth?

How come nobody has written about this?

Um... they say the ice at the south pole goes all the way around the outer circle and holds all the water in, or there is more land on a bigger circle beyond the "Southern ice wall". Plenty have written about it (but it makes absolutely no sense).

[Traveler]

Originally Posted by Found Goat

No one is disputing that one cannot traverse the Earth from start to end point in one direction using a flat model, but I wonder if this has ever been done even on a supposed globular earth and, if so, how and by whom? (Shamans and astral travelers do not count. I'm speaking only of those in physical bodies.)

A plane piloted by Richard Rutan and Jeanna Yeager named the Rutan Voyager model 76 flew around the world without refueling in 9 days back in 1986.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutan_Voyager