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At what age did you realize the Earth wasn't flat?

What about gravity? When did you realize that it actually wasn't electromagnetism?

DZhukovin 7 July 20
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4

Before school age my parents had bought us both a globe and a wall-map. Looking back it was a satire of their religious upbringing, they told us it was for us to decide which was right and left us to it. It might've took a couple of years but I figured out in the end that while a globe was nonsensical and maps quite normal, the ends of the map didn't seem to make sense, the way they magically continued again on the other edge. So I just lost the plot and asked for a giant turtle for xmas.

Salo Level 7 July 20, 2018
3

Probably pretty early. I was an inquisitive little one. I followed space launches and was aware of Mariner 4 and the ranger missions when i was 7 so I certainly understood well by then. I watched a puppet show about rockets as a little kid called "Venus and Steve" as I remember. I don't know how old I was but I knew while watching it that the Earth was spherical and that the moon was another body with a surface. I think I was in 1st grade then but I think I understood that the Earth was round well before then.

The early space program is pretty murky for me. I thought I was aware of Luna 3's first photo of the dark side of the moon but that is not possible as I would have been 2 years old. I followed the Gemini program extensively. Apollo was my early teenage years.

I'm pretty sure I was learning about perspective missions to the moon and how astronaut's might get there before I stopped believing in Santa Claus. I remember spending a Christmas eve with my Great Aunt and reading the book on the moon mission plan and then wondering where Santa was in the sky and if I could see his sleigh while we were driving home.

I think I was smart but very gulible...

2

I grew up being taught that the world was round I never ever thought that the world was flat

2

I think I saw a globe, like, always 🙂

2

Wow. I was never taught the opposite.

2

Day zero.... like before I was born.

That's not scientifically possible

2

I don't know that I ever thought the world was flat, I assume in early elementary school someone showed us a globe. I knew about gravity before electromagnetism. I remember as a child hearing "gravity sucks" after a fall. I had mean brothers.

2

Don't think I ever thought it was flat. But distortions on a world map always mess me up. Never thought gravity was magnetism. I asked why we were not hurled into space when I was younger.

2

When Santa Claus told me & took me for a ride. Yes ........LSD

2

Not sure I ever thought it was. When I was five years old, I got to watch the moon landing (Apollo 11 mission) and return to an obviously spherical earth, complete with splash down.

Zster Level 8 July 20, 2018
2

Had a lovely globe in my bedroom as a kid. I don't honestly remember thinking of the world as anything other than round.

Well it's not round. It's an irregular oblate spheroid. Maybe it is roughly round in some places, but that's as far as it goes.

Who the hell told you the world is round? I think you were misinformed.

@DZhukovin Well, it was probably just a rounding error.

@DZhukovin Dude, slow your roll - you're coming off as an arrogant prick. You reacted to @kkgator as a drama queen and it isn't enough for you that @seaspot_run knew that the earth wasn't flat - you want to correct her that it's not round. Hell, I didn't even know that the moon wasn't considered a planet until today and that it is instead a natural satellite. I must have missed an email or I had a terrible teacher. Either way, knowing that the earth isn't round but is actually a bumpy spheroid doesn't really impact my life or hers. You've demonstrated your superior intelligence - get over yourself - you're either here to talk or to massage your ego because in your mind - you're just so much smarter than the next person. You're that buzz kill person that we encounter at every party. You asked "At what age did you realize the Earth wasn't flat" both @kkgator and @seaspot_run answered that they never did - stfu and move on.

@seaspot_run

I love that!!! Can I steal it?

@SLBushway

Thank you

@DZhukovin You're welcome!

@Athena I have to steal a better personality? Who did I steal this one from? Setting that stupid sh@t aside - he was acting like an arrogant prick and I don't need to review his history - on the page I visited he was playing the part of a jerk if he doesn't want to be seen that way all he needs to be is consistent. If nothing else, those who have followed my responses know that I'm consistent even if my personality in your mind was borrowed or stolen".

@DZhukovin [i.imgur.com]

2

I have no memory of ever thinking it was. My biggest like was when my further learning caused me to see that it is an oblate spheroid instead of sphere, yes early educators use that word.

2

Never thought the Earth was flat, when we learned that some thought it was flat during the middle ages and before, I remember thinking "How archaic, where did that idea come from?".
I have never thought gravity was electromagnetism, I found out through reading that it was a fundamental force. For a long time I thought electromagnetism had to involve a battery. I learned better.

2

I never did think that the earth was flat. I didn't realize that there are people that actually believe such nonsense till a little while ago. I think that the encyclopedias will have to add more to what of is real and what is not some silly nonsense.
For the life of me I really can't fathom just how far fetched stupidity can go.

2

There was no "realization". It just is.
Why on Earth do people have to make so much so bloody complicated?
It's NOT that hard.

If thinking is offensive to you, then please remind yourself that you don't have the right to revise culture in such a narrow minded way, and please just stay away from thinking people. Go to a movie theater, or something.

@DZhukovin Wow. Triggered much?

@KKGator HURR HURR IF I DONT HAVE ANY INTELLECTUALLY VALID INPUT TOWARDS A PERSON WITH A FRUSTRATION TOWARDS ME THEN I CAN JUST SAY "TRIGGERED MUCH" BECAUSE IT'S NOT LIKE I AM EXPECTED TO USE MY BRAIN ANYWAY HURR HURR

Now aside from the joking nature of the original post, how do you not grasp that there is a big intellectual value and interest in the origins of the discovery of a round earth? If people want to think and talk about this, then let them. It's not your business, and I am pretty sure you are not in the position to say what is good culture, and what is bad culture.

I refuse to be harassed by somebody from the "stop thinking so much" community.

@DZhukovin For some people things just are, without having to think. i.e. When I read that the universe was static and went on forever, I thought "That is wrong, nothing can go on forever.". That was the answer that made the most sense to my 12 y/o mind. Infinity is impossible. This was later proven to be correct with the expanding universe theory.

@DZhukovin No worries. Make all the assumptions you like regarding what I grasp or don't grasp, what "kind of company" I keep. You're probably right though. I don't do well with intellectual snobbery.

@MacTavish

That's okay. But the world of conjectures and proofs is just as interesting, whether it is mathematical, philosophical or both. Nobody is cool or of status for snubbing anything to do with thinking. They only exemplify themselves as part of the physically oriented, archaic human species that is responsible for most of the world's problems.

@KKGator

Yeah I may have been right about some stuff, since I payed attention to the subject matter at hand. Keep pretending like there is nothing to be thought about other than how much I bother you. Real mature. It's called "own up to reality", not everyone who doesn't treat you well is making a mistake in our mind-dominated world.

@KKGator

Yeah of course if you're amused, then it reflects on the reality of the situation. That's such a cheap tactic. Only people with the mind of a middle schooler every buy into that subjective crap.

I am waiting for you to apologize for this "it just is" nonsense. There is a COHERENT CHAIN OF REASONING and a WELL SOURCED BODY OF FACTS to prove the Earth is not flat, and that is why it is not flat. "It just is" is a circular argument, okay?

@DZhukovin I'm not going to apologize for anything being a fact, and recognizing it as such. Attempting to insult me doesn't change anything.

Btw, the whole "circular argument" bit? That was funny. Nice to see that you have some semblance of a sense of humor.

@KKGator

"I'm not going to apologize for anything being a fact, and recognizing it as such. Attempting to insult me doesn't change anything.

Btw, the whole "circular argument" bit? That was funny. Nice to see that you have some semblance of a sense of humor."

Okay so basically, you are going to reject giving any mind to this discussion because that faculty is either interrupted, shut off, or just not present. It's my fault for seeking this discussion with you, because once again it seems like I have not determined where to have this discussion.

@DZhukovin The initial question was "At what age did you realize the Earth wasn't flat?"

I replied that there was no "realization". I always knew the Earth was a sphere from my earliest recollections. There was never a point in my life where the Earth being flat was anything worthy of consideration. Everything proved that archaic notion was completely false and borne of ignorance.

Anyone ever standing at a point high enough, or looking out the window while flying in a plane, and seeing the curvature of the Earth for themselves, is evidence enough.

Gravity has always been the force keeping everything from floating off into space. It is a product of the Earth's mass and energy.

These are all things I learned at a very young age. They were explained adequately and with all due evidence. There was no need to question any of it.

Don't come at me with your juvenile insults, and your self-righteous, pseudo-intellectual, pretentious attitude. Just because I don't want to play your little game doesn't mean you have any particular "insight" into my level of intelligence, educational background, or any other goddamned thing about me.

I answered your question. Just because you didn't like my answer doesn't give you the right to denigrate it, or me.

Your attitude toward me is what helps to perpetuate the stereotype about so many millennials being such supercilious twats.

We are done here.

@KKGator

Fail

@DZhukovin Yes, you did fail. Don't feel badly though. Stay on the site, engage, participate. Develop your sense of humor.
You might even learn something. Like humility.

@KKGator

Lol you're a comic act.

@Bjy001

Hehe

2

I don't remember it ever being flat. I do remember that Christians killed people for saying its round at first.

Well it's not. Unfortunately, however that doesn't mean that the Christians were on the right side, since they thought it was flat.

@DZhukovin I was saying that I didn't get taught it was flat even in my southern town. I guess I already had established as fact that it was round because of all the scientific Publications we got around the house. The church who burned Heretics for saying we weren't the center of the universe stroke me as very evil when I was a kid

@Virgoan

Okay

2

Idk, pretty young. Globes were standard in elementary school.

2

I don't know what electromagnetism is, but I never once thought that the earth was flat and before I heard the word gravity, it was clear to me as a young kid that if I threw something into the air above my head I had better be prepared to catch it or move out of the way.

1

What? It isn't?

Bugger, That's another belief dashed since I joined this site....

Is nothing sacred?

🙂 😉 🙂

I know :/

1

I don't ever remember thinking is was, I wasn't taught that is was and nobody I knew thought it was either.
And if there was any doubt, this can't happen on a flat earth 🙂

ipdg77 Level 8 July 21, 2018
1

It's not?

1

We had a globe, and I just accepted that as the shape of the world. As a toddler I don’t think I bothered with such thoughts one way or the other.

1

Really? Is it not flat? ?

1

Never thought it was.

1

I guess I never questioned it. I saw images of the Earth from space in my textbooks as a kid and learned physics and history as I grew older.

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