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Ever think someone was just joking, but then they block you?

Guy kept saying London was the center of the world, and when I asked him why he said because it was on the Prime Meridian. So I pointed out that the "center" of the world in that sense would actually be off the coast of Africa, near the coordinates 0,0. He told me not to mess with him, but then I pointed out how many other cities are also on the Prime Meridian, and so I got blocked. XD

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Quizzical · 46-50, M

He was right though

Xuan12 · 31-35, M

@Quizzical While it is on the Meridian, the "center" of the world seems like quite an odd thing to call it. Why would 51.5N and 0.1W be the center of the world instead of 0,0? It's not at the center of the coordinates, it's not at the center of human population centers, it's not at the center of trade or transit hubs. The one thing London might actually claim to be the center of (which he oddly denied) is banking. I just don't see any intuitive reason to consider 51.5N, 0.1W the center.

Quizzical · 46-50, M

@Xuan12 Well, strictly speaking... The centre would be somewhere near the core, lol

And yes, although there are other Towns/Cities on the Meridian Line it was decided by international agreement that Greenwich would be the navigational 'start point'.

Xuan12 · 31-35, M

@Quizzical Ah, yes, the molten iron/nickel core, that's another intuitive center. But yes, it is the start point by agreement, but that doesn't really seem to me to make it the center. We could have picked any other start point and the coordinate system would work just as well. I mean, most people also agree that January 1st is the start point of the year, but that doesn't make it the center of time, nor is 0AD the center of time either. An edgeless, finite space like the surface of a spheroid doesn't really have a true center geometrically. The meridian is just an arbitrary line, something I also mentioned which was apparently quite offensive.

Quizzical · 46-50, M

@Xuan12 True, it is arbitrary I guess... Though at the time London truly was the centre of the world 😁

Xuan12 · 31-35, M

@Quizzical Capital of the empire, indeed.

Quizzical · 46-50, M

@Xuan12 Long live Victoria! (Salutes) 😁