this post was submitted on 10 Apr 2026
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Extremely pedantically, sure. But under that level of pedantry, the whole metric falls apart anyway because there's surely never or rarely been a point in recorded human history where someone hasn't jumped/fallen/not been physically touching the ground themselves (let alone this having been measurable). What about "touching"; your feet are just repelling the ground via electromagnetism.
It's really obvious what the metric is, and trying to pedant-proof it isn't worth bloating it into a mouthful. We can just recognize what it obviously means, say "oh, neat", and move on with our day.
The last time everybody was touching a solid object connected to the Earth by touching other solid objects is probably around 15,000 years ago, when humans crossed over into the Americas. Before then, it would probably occur regularly that nearly all humans are asleep and the handful that are awake happen to all be touching the ground.
Does it really count as being “on earth” if you’re standing on a floor instead of having your feet directly touch the dirt?