To describe phenomena on the scale of atoms, we use the second great theory: quantum mechanics, which differs from general relativity in basically everything. It uses flat space-time and a completely different mathematical apparatus

It's weird to me, that the common method of attempting to describe a four dimensional thing is to immediately reduce the three dimensional thing to two dimensions...

The word "curved" is problematic for the concept of space-time because it invokes one or two dimensional thought. Space-time is a four dimensional model.

The best description of the effect of gravity on space-time on my opinion is actually a joke... Gravity sucks :)