I am not the first to observe that you can pick any arbitrary spot and declare it to be the center of the universe. I frequently argue that there is nothing wrong with adopting a geocentric view for the purpose of understanding what we see happen in the sky. It is not actually “wrong”, even in an absolute sense. It all depends on what you are want to do.
I was also interested to learn that the church did not try to prevent astronomers from using a heliocentric system, which makes astronomical predictions much more accurate and simplifies the calculation, as long as the earth was still central for theological purposes. As for the flat-earthers, I have always assumed that they just enjoy the idea of pretending to believe something obviously absurd. Or maybe it is fun to actually believe something that contradicts all the physical evidence to the contrary. OTOH, I have come to see that there are a lot of politicians and self-declared economists who seem to do the same thing. Jack From: sundial <sundial-boun...@uni-koeln.de> On Behalf Of Roger Sent: Monday, June 17, 2019 11:27 AM To: Ruud Hooijenga <r.hooije...@ziggo.nl>; kool...@dickkoolish.com; sundial@uni-koeln.de Subject: RE: Can a sundial disprove Flat Earth? A better question is how could you show before telescopes were invented that the earth orbits the sun rather than the sun orbiting the earth. We all observe that the sun, moon and stars rise and set. Sundial design is the same for geocentric and heliocentric systems. Regards, Roger Bailey Global location: N 48.6°, W 123.4° From: Ruud Hooijenga <mailto:r.hooije...@ziggo.nl> Sent: June 17, 2019 7:22 AM To: kool...@dickkoolish.com <mailto:kool...@dickkoolish.com> ; sundial@uni-koeln.de <mailto:sundial@uni-koeln.de> Subject: Re: Can a sundial disprove Flat Earth? No, that was not a proof of the globe; just a measurement of its size, assuming the globe. A small, close sun over a flat earth could give the same result for the two locations. However, several other observations had already proved the globe. And you could repeat the Eratosthenes experiment in more than two places, so that the flat earth/local sun assumption would have to be discarded. However, to a dedicated flerfer this will prove nothing, because everything is a NASA hoax (it was even in Eratosthenes' time, apparently). It's no use wrestling a pig - it will only get you dirty, and the pig enjoys it. Rudolf 52-30 N 4-40 E Op 17 juni 2019 om 16:04 schreef kool...@dickkoolish.com <mailto:kool...@dickkoolish.com> : Didn't Eratosthenes show that the earth was round by measuring the diameter? <http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=oa-4885-a> Virus-free. <http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=oa-4885-a> www.avg.com
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