At what age did you realize the Earth wasn't flat?
What about gravity? When did you realize that it actually wasn't electromagnetism?
6
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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
4
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...
marmot84
Level 7
July 20, 2018
2
I grew up being taught that the world was round I never ever thought that the world was flat
Drsmash253
Level 7
July 21, 2018
2
Day zero.... like before I was born.
MissaDixon
Level 7
July 21, 2018
2
That's not scientifically possible
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.
HippieChick58
Level 9
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.
seaspot_run
Level 7
July 20, 2018
2
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.
I love that!!! Can I steal it?
@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".
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.
MacTavish
Level 7
July 20, 2018
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.
TristanNuvo
Level 8
July 20, 2018
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.
KKGator
Level 9
July 20, 2018
2
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.
@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.
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.
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.
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?
"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.
I don't remember it ever being flat. I do remember that Christians killed people for saying its round at first.
Virgoan
Level 5
July 20, 2018
2
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
Idk, pretty young. Globes were standard in elementary school.
NothinnXpreVails
Level 8
July 20, 2018
1
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.
SLBushway
Level 7
July 20, 2018
1
What? It isn't?
Bugger, That's another belief dashed since I joined this site....
Is nothing sacred?
Uncorrugated
Level 7
July 21, 2018
1
I know :/
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.
WilliamFleming
Level 8
July 20, 2018
1
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