April 7

Galileo’s Bluff

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

(Romans 1:21) KJV

The Earth is at the center of the observable universe. It’s an empirical observation. Heliocentricity isn’t observed, it’s theoretical. Oddly enough, people today simply can’t grasp this concept.

We’ve made references to Galileo’s Bluff. It’s the rationale that most people are clueless about but it’s the reason why they think that the solar system is heliocentric. You could call it a heliocentric theory. Today we’ll lay it out in detail. There are three parts to it.

1. The assumption of heliocentricity,
2. the effect this has on the geometry of stellar parallax,
3. and the arbitrary designation of stars as suns and galaxies.

Our frame of reference is, by default, earth-centered. From our vantage point on the Earth we observe the cosmos orbiting the Earth every day. We observe that the stars have an even distribution in every direction. We also observe that the furthest stars are the same distance from us in every direction. Our frame of reference is Geocentrospheric, there’s nothing you can do about it.

Copernicus may have been one of the first to promote a heliocentric model but he didn’t substantiate it. The simple fact is that we’re on the Earth, not the sun. Galileo was the first to put what looked like “science” behind Copernicus’ assumptions. Unfortunately, Galileo’s “science” is a nested series of assumptions, circular reasoning and reductive induction.

Galileo’s Inductive, Reductive Circular Reasoning

1. Assuming the premise of heliocentricity,
   • then earth will be on either side of the sun every six months.
2. Using induction (not deduction because the premise, the assumption of heliocentricity, is used to supply evidence for the conclusion):
   • the angle we measure to a star (parallax) should change during the course of a year,
   • if the greatest difference should be when the earth is on either side of the sun,
   • then measuring parallax six months apart should prove that the earth is moving (circular reasoning).
3. IF the amount of parallax is so small that it can’t be measured, as Galileo found, we begin another circle of reasoning (reductive induction):
   • assuming the lack of parallax is because stars are further away than we thought,
   • and assuming stars are far enough away to explain the lack of parallax (circular reasoning),
     • we induce, based on angular size, that they’re as large as the sun (or larger).

Galileo’s bluff is an induced rationalization of evidence to fit the premise of heliocentricity. It’s not proof of heliocentricity.