Odd Reality

Posted on April 13, 2007 in Thinking

If you stand on a “flat” plain on this round planet of ours, the world falls away from you in all directions. To prove this, you need only find a level stretch of road (try the [[Bonneville Salt Flats]] and erect three poles of equal height, say a quarter mile between them. If you sight along the tops of these, the more distant poles will appear to be lower. This is because of the phenomenon I mentioned at the beginning of this microessay.

Now for the odd thought. If you start to walk on this plain, every direction you choose must be “down” and yet each new step will take you to a position which is “above” your previous one.

You don’t know what you think you know sometimes.