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**If I hold a cubic brick in my hand, and everyone can plainly observe that it is cubic (or, at least, closely enough), then if someone comes along and claims my brick is the shape of a round pizza dough, I don't feel obligated to produce a full-fledged proof that the brick is not the shape of a round pizza dough.
I may ask the person "what do you mean by 'it is round'? "
And if the person answers with: "I say it is round and it is up to you to prove it is not", then I simply walk away.
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Davros say: Although there are numerous lines of inquiry to follow, for me there were 3 major steps of ever more solid evidence which led to ending the Flat Earth argument in perpetuity.
The shadow measurements of Eratosthenes in around 240BC*
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eratosthen...
The circumnavigation of the globe by Ferdinand Magellan from 1519-22
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_...
The orbit of Sputnik in 1957.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1
For the learned people of the world Eratosthenes had ended the argument.
When Columbus came to the courts of Europe with his plan to sail westward to China, he was never turned down because his detractors thought the Earth was flat. That's a 19th century myth invented to elevate Columbus' decidedly patchy image and create a hero for American schoolboys. He was always turned down because ancient conventional wisdom held that China was 12,000 miles away (which it was) and no crew could ever hope to survive such a journey. Columbus had in fact got his sums wrong and had he not been fortunate to have an unknown continent in his way he would have become a minor tragic footnote in history.
Continuing to believe in the Flat Earth beyond Sputnik is to do so purely on religious faith as all reason and evidence opposes it. Given the core of flat Earth belief is today driven by Christian fundamentalism I think that rests my case.
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Donut Tim say: • Earth’s shadow on the Moon during a lunar eclipse
• Ships and the Horizon – approaching ships appear as if they “emerge from the waves”
• Varying Star Constellations as you move toward or away from the equator
• Seeing Farther from Higher
• Ride a Plane - If you look out the window on long flight you can, most of the times, see the curvature of the earth at the horizon. You can also take many trips in the same direction and circle the globe.
• The Existence of Time Zones
• Observe the direction of the pull of gravity.
• Images from Space
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