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“The Earth is not the center of anything. The gravitational field at any point results from all the mass in the universe, not just the Earth's.”

It’s true, of course, that “the” gravitational field at any point results from all the mass in the universe. But there are obviously vertices, centers of mass, where mass is accumulated. The earth orbits around one, our moon orbits around one, all the perturbations due to other centers of mass notwithstanding.

“the observer in the lab cannot distinguish between these two options regarding the scale reading: (1) it results from a gravitational field "g" in the downward direction; (2) it results from being in an accelerated frame of reference with acceleration "g" in the upward direction.”

To the extent that the two are indistinguishable, it’s because both involve inertial accelerations, gravitation being resisted in (1) but not involved in (2). In fact they are distinguishable, as objects dropped in (1) will converge, however slightly – because there’s a convergence toward the center of mass(!)

I submit that your comments are illustrative of how hard it is to give up the identification of gravitation and inertial acceleration. And your company is both excellent and contemporary.

Please see my article on ScienceBlog at http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/gravitation-and-its-misappropriation-quan... for my demonstration that gravitation is never force-like, or involved with inertial acceleration, except when it is resisted.