A discussion on TFES forum

[Red]

If you're genuinely back to being on the flat earth wagon (or even just humoring the possibility) why the hell would anyone expect to convince you otherwise?

You're a lost cause if I've ever seen one. Not only do you jump from crazy belief to crazy belief, but it seems even when you're convinced one of them is wrong, you sooner or later go back to it (even though you changed your mind on FE six years ago). I bet within a year you're going to go back to your massacre denialism and disbelief in prisons.

[teo123]

If you're genuinely back to being on the flat earth wagon (or even just humoring the possibility) why the hell would anyone expect to convince you otherwise?

You're a lost cause if I've ever seen one. Not only do you jump from crazy belief to crazy belief, but it seems even when you're convinced one of them is wrong, you sooner or later go back to it (even though you changed your mind on FE six years ago). I bet within a year you're going to go back to your massacre denialism and disbelief in prisons.

Instead of doing ad-hominem attacks, why don't you address the question? Do you understand the question? If the horizon is caused by the Earth being round, why don't ships, when they pass over the horizon, appear to lean away from us? Do you want me to draw a diagram?
And if you understand the question, but do not know the answer, why don't you admit then that you don't know whether the Earth is round or flat?

[Red]

Instead of doing ad-hominem attacks, why don't you address the question? Do you understand the question? If the horizon is caused by the Earth being round, why don't ships, when they pass over the horizon, appear to lean away from us? Do you want me to draw a diagram?
And if you understand the question, but do not know the answer, why don't you admit then that you don't know whether the Earth is round or flat?

I'm not going to listen to anything said by someone who unironically believes Croatia is a real country.

[teo123]

Instead of doing ad-hominem attacks, why don't you address the question? Do you understand the question? If the horizon is caused by the Earth being round, why don't ships, when they pass over the horizon, appear to lean away from us? Do you want me to draw a diagram?
And if you understand the question, but do not know the answer, why don't you admit then that you don't know whether the Earth is round or flat?

I'm not going to listen to anything said by someone who unironically believes Croatia is a real country.

Well, maybe Croatia really does not exist. The existence of Croatia is far less obvious than the Earth being flat. After all, whether or not the Earth is flat is a matter of very hard science (optics at worst), and whether Croatia exists is a matter of soft sciences. I think my argument for the Earth being flat (ships not appearing to lean as they pass over the horizon) is way more convincing than any argument somebody can make about the existence of Croatia (or any other place, for that matter).

[teo123]

So, @Red, now that I explicitly doubted the existence of Croatia, will you finally address my argument for the Earth being flat? If the horizon is caused by the Earth being round, why don't ships going over the horizon appear to lean away from us?

[Red]

So, @Red, now that I explicitly doubted the existence of Croatia, will you finally address my argument for the Earth being flat? If the horizon is caused by the Earth being round, why don't ships going over the horizon appear to lean away from us?

I know you still believe in Croatia dude, you're not fooling anyone.

[teo123]

So, @Red, now that I explicitly doubted the existence of Croatia, will you finally address my argument for the Earth being flat? If the horizon is caused by the Earth being round, why don't ships going over the horizon appear to lean away from us?

I know you still believe in Croatia dude, you're not fooling anyone.

Like I've said, I am not sure Croatia is real. The existence of Croatia is far less obvious than the Earth being flat. And you repeatedly refusing to address my argument makes me more and more confident the Earth really is flat.

[Red]

Like I've said, I am not sure Croatia is real. The existence of Croatia is far less obvious than the Earth being flat. And you repeatedly refusing to address my argument makes me more and more confident the Earth really is flat.

I'm actually starting to wonder if you yourself are actually a real person or just a figment of my imagination.

[teo123]

@brimstoneSalad, what do you think about the following argument for the Earth being flat: "If the horizon is caused by the Earth being round, we would expect ships that disappear over the horizon to appear not only to sink, but also to lean away from us. Yet, we do not see that: ships going over the horizon appear to stay straight. Therefore, a better explanation for the horizon is some kind of curving of light."? It seems to me that @Red cannot respond to that argument. Clearly, determining whether the Earth is round or flat requires quite specialized empirical knowledge, as both Red and I are engineering students who have studied quite a bit of physics and quite a bit of math, yet we do not know whether that argument is correct.

[teo123]

OK, before anybody gets misled, I was trolling. Here is why ships do not appear to lean as they go over the horizon: they do, but the horizon at the sea level is around 5 km away, whereas the circumference of the Earth is 40'000 kilometers. So, they lean at the angle of 5/40000*360=0.045 degrees, which is imperceptible. It's the same fallacy as the "Horizon appears to rise with you as you climb." argument.