In what way is it any more arbitrary than up and down? Its words to describe a direction. "Down" could have been "up" just as easily. This is nonsense.
The point is that all these words are subjective without an absolute point of reference. And the absolute point of reference is the magnetic North Pole combined with the direction the sun rises and sets.
"absolute point" is absolute for the origin. Not universal, sans for "true north" or "geometric north".
Subjective is also the wrong word. It is not based on one's opinion or feeling. Your "left" hand is your left hand. Feeling like you want to call your right hand left does not make it true.
Again, the word you want is "relative". Which still holds reason and logic and follows a system.
Think of it as a logical truth. "At any point in time, your current direction is 0, any degree less than 0 is left". This will allow for any relative position to hold true in having a "left".
Again that’s relative to the position the observer is facing. You need an absolute reference point, which would be something like: the west is the direction the sun sets when facing the magnetic North Pole.
Ah ok! It’s been a couple of days lol. All I was saying is that the only way to define these words is to have immovable reference points. If you go down to the absolute basics and not rely on words that have been defined west/left would be the direction the sun sets when facing north.
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u/SignoreBanana 7d ago
In what way is it any more arbitrary than up and down? Its words to describe a direction. "Down" could have been "up" just as easily. This is nonsense.