Well done pointing out how religious the round earth view really is. Why does gravity exist? because it has an effect. Why does this effect exist? because gravity exists.
Its not round earth view. Its again your lack of understanding which you then attribute to round earth as its failure. Gravity exists and has effect. It does not exist because it has effect. But effect exist because gravity exist. Or are you really so dumb that you think that fire exist because effect exist? Following your logic - fire exist becaus it has an effect. Why does this effect exist? because fire exists.
And so on with everything which causes some effect. Although its fascinating to know that flat earthers think that anything that causes some effect exist because of that effect.
Yes, that is an equally religious example. Fire does not exist because it has an effect. Fire exists because things combust. Things combust because they reach a combustion temperature. Likewise, you can continue down this rabbit hole until you reach reasonably asserted axioms.
Unfortunately, we have no such description for gravity. Gravity exists because mass pulls objects towards it. Why does gravity pull objects towards it? Either because of a religious belief in Einstien's aether, gravitons, or a religious belief in some basic law - none of which are any more solid than 'faeries pull things to mass'. It is not the cause and the effect, otherwise this is circular reasoning.
I would expect the FE community to do at least some basic homework regarding these issues rather than spout off with no regard for the fact that we are all communicating on the Internet; last time I checked it is a viable source of information. I'll spare everyone here the volume of information on the Higgs Field, but you can read about here:
https://profmattstrassler.com/articles-and-posts/particle-physics-basics/how-the-higgs-field-works-with-math/1-the-basic-idea/
On July 4, 2012 CERN verified the existence of a new quantum particle that was predicted using the theory of the Higgs Boson particle. The Higgs field imparts mass onto matter, which in turn is what causes matter to curve space-time. The curvature of space-time is where gravitational effects are noted. The cause of this curvature is subject to debate, but rest assured there are models that suitably address the issue and they are not coming from proponents of FE. What is known is that the Higgs field imparts mass onto matter, which in turn creates a curvature of space-time. The degree of curvature determines the strength of its gravitational pull, which is related to how massive an object is.
So to say that there is some sort of worship of gravity and attempting to create an equivocation between it and religion is disingenuous, to say the least. If the nature of god (or gods) was put under the same degree of scrutiny, there would be a better answer to the problem of evil other than faith based defense. In summation, John Davis, the phenomena that is gravity has been and is still undergoing intense observation, which is a hallmark of rigorous scientific exploration. Real science does not rest on assumptions and seeks answers for what is unanswered. The magnitude of problems facing FE like the solstices, lunar and solar eclipses, sunrise and sunset, the apparent size of the sun and moon using the FE model, explanation of why Special Relativity is only selectively applied for FE, how the refraction of light changes in magnitude based on time of day/location while simultaneously being disregarded when inconvenient, are all evidence that this is a crackpot idea dreamed up by people that like to argue but have no idea how to do so.
Flat Earth is a wishing well for people that would rather complain about being ignorant instead of doing something about being ignorant.
You have no understanding of science what-so-ever. For example your claim 'Real science does not rest on assumptions and seeks answers for what is unanswered' is impossible to defend, and I'd love to see you start to try. Go on. Give it a whirl.
Furthermore, the discovery of the higgs boson does not explain how matter curves space time, or even what 'space time' is. But that's ok. We can just keep shifting down the burden of your religion to other imaginary particles. Old magic graviton is what communicates the matter/mass to space time. But then again, we don't even have to go this far - let us not forget, the higgs boson has never been observed either.
It can be shown there are infinitely other scenarios that would cause each and every experimental result that 'shows' a higgs boson. I don't expect you to understand this, because you are clearly a simpleton that is only educated as far as your hand reaches to your mouth.
ROTFLMFAO!!!
Wait, you actually have a hard time buying that a peer reviewed theory was validated by an experiment verifying the existence of the Higgs Boson but would quickly jump on board to a wild belief the earth is perpetually accelerating "upwards", that light bends in all sorts of weird and unpredictable ways that prove your BS idea, that there are about a dozen different maps (none of them make any particular sense), the biggest element that rips this lunacy to shreds (NASA, Russian & Chinese space programs, amateur astronomers/rocketeers the globe over) are all conveniently a part of the world's most elaborate, expensive, and ridiculous tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy, and the sun/moon/dark thingy are all above us at a fixed 3000 miles (never mind the problems with elliptical appearance near the horizon, eclipses, sunspots, flares, etc).
Am I the simpleton in this exchange? I don't stand in front of more than a 1000 years of evidence proving my perspective wrong. I'm not the one screaming conspiracy to defend my beliefs. You and this website represent the death of critical thinking in the world. Your response and inability to respond with anything approaching substance speaks volumes about your character. The fact that you actually believe this garbage makes me pity you; a small man in a big world, surrounded by things he doesn't understand and is too proud to try and figure out.
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You have no understanding of science what-so-ever. For example, your claim 'Real science does not rest on assumptions and seeks answers for what is unanswered' is impossible to defend, and I'd love to see you start to try. Go on. Give it a whirl."
The scientific method, at its base, is a logical procession. By assumption, I mean that the scientific method does not make blind assumptions without a deductive conclusion (thereby eliminating the point as an assumption) or inductive process (thereby managing the "blind" element of the assumption). Science, from its genesis, has sought the unanswered. How you would claim otherwise further illustrates the conflation of conspiracy and knowledge running amok in your head. Impossible is a universal quantifier, meaning you are stating with absolute certainty that there exists no example, anywhere or at any time, that can defend an argument asserting what I have, which isn't the case. Truthfully, because your argumentation skills are so poor, it's difficult to determine exactly what you take exception to. My statements regarding assumptions or science seeking to answer the unanswered. I can only assume that you reject outright any position that does not align with your own rather than explore why it does not align.
I don't feel it necessary to have a discussion on the scientific method proper. I can state, however, that
flat earth conjecture does not seem interested in following that particular pattern of thought. Rather than make calculated assumptions and seek answers, the lot of you are satisfied in returning to ages old documents long disproven while ignoring answers that can be found by simply opening your own eyes. Most importantly, this community does not seem able to question its own product; a key feature of the scientific method that separates a logical process from the pseudoscience practiced here.
Anecdotally, I was out the other morning with my twin daughters, aged 13, and told them about this place on the internet. They were both shocked that such a backward place existed but I persisted and asked them both why are you so certain the Earth is a globe? We live on the coast of California and visit Long Beach frequently. They both replied without missing a beat; dad, we've watched the container ships go over the horizon - they don't disappear out of view, they sink over the curve of the Earth.
Good luck out there John Davies.