@newjaninev2 That's funny. I thought North was defined according to the direction of rotation around the sun -- in other words, an abstract definition which coincided well enough with a magnetic north with the direction of a compass. My understanding is that the magnetic poles of the Earth can switch, and have done, as evidenced by the direction of magnetism in layers of volcanic rocks. I believe this is what I remember from school days.
If one says that there is no north, then by the same reasoning there would be no equator, longitude, latitude, clock-time, calendar, etc. These are all abstractions for the sake of orienting ourselves in space-time. Yet our sun always rises in what we call the east, and sets in our west, and our Milky Way appears to span our skies in the same direction. It's reliable enough that we can use trigonometry to find our way across our planet.
@hartfire exactly!The compass points, the Equator, latitude, longitude, etc. are nothing more than convenient fictions that help us find our way around this planet.
As you said, it’s reliable enough to be useful during our short lifetimes, and even during the evolutionary history of our species... but the dinosaurs looked up at a very different night sky.
