Cheers for that mate, saved me replying to him that a lot of our discoveries are based on mathematics which is pure and not guesswork.Oh dear, I think that is where the problem lies.
Mathematics is all about proof, proving one thing equals another. Some areas of science are 'to the best of our knowledge at this time' and theories are refined on as knowledge progresses, but maths is absolute. 2+2=4. That is not brainwashing, that is not subjective, it just is.
You then take it further than algebra and look at pi, Pythagoras and trigonometry - your basics of geometry built on the foundations laid by Euclid. Those are also absolute proven fact. You can calculate stuff on the small scale and measure it with a ruler for proof, and those rules form the basis on which all roads, buildings, massive ships etc are designed. Geometry just is, the modern world would not work if those rule were wrong.
However you apply the same geometric hard and fast rules to accurate observational evidence of the world and night sky and it all points to the same thing. And the key thing is it is all provable down to first principals. In the modern era, rather than sit with pen and paper, computers can do all the calculations for us and even render all that in 3D. You feed the observations and basic geometric rules into a simulator and the same things pop out. That is not perception or personal bias, it is just maths.
Quite frankly what you say is demeaning and insulting. You claim you don't insult people but there is evidence just there. "You regurgitate what is drilled in". No. Thousands upon thousands of people learn the provable basics from 2+2=4 upwards. It is called knowledge, learning and intelligence. People like myself are not sheep just repeating stuff, people actually take things back to the first principals and build from there. Nowt to do with curriculum and passing exams, that is way behind someone of my age, it is all about learning, personal interest and advancement of knowledge.
What I do find fascinating though is if you dismiss all the above as being provable, if you reject basic maths and geometry then what are you left with? At least with that you have a solid set of provable rules and equations that point to a globe earth. There is no physics or maths that backs up any other model, so people are left with a choice. Do you reject all mathematics and dismiss the globe, do you accept mathematics and the globe or do you go for something else where there is no maths to back it up? The second one is the only logical choice.