In the world of triangles and tin foil hats, it's pretty much a case of anything goes. Undisclosed planet on a direct collision course for Earth? Okay. US government hiding live alien beings in a top-secret base in the middle of the desert? Sure, sounds plausible. However, even the most hardened of conspiracy theorists struggle to see eye-to-eye with the flat-Earthers.
See, the flat-Earthers are a special breed of contrarians. They're a bunch so devoted to believing what they want to believe that they're willing to cast all logic and scientific evidence aside in their hunt for "the truth".
Advert
In fact, they are so desperate not to conform to mainstream ideas, that if NASA announced tomorrow that our planet really is flat, they'd no doubt all be round-Earthers by the end of the week.
With that in mind, it should go without saying that their first Flat Earth International Conference last week was a bit of an eye-opener. That being said, it didn't really achieve much.
All the biggest names in the flat-Earth community descended on North Carolina, with the express aim of revealing "the true evidence which shockingly points to our existence on a flat, stationary plane."
Credit: BBC
Advert
The fun-packed itinerary included sessions such as 'NASA and other space lies', 'Flat Earth with the Scientific Method', and everyone's favourite, 'Waking Up to Mainstream Science Lies'.
Mark Sargent, who has over 40,000 subscribers on his Flat Earth YouTube channel and attended the conference, told BBC News:
"Nobody likes this uncomfortable feeling to be in this tiny ball, flying through space in this vast endless universe."
Holding up a model of what he believes the Earth actually looks like, Sargent explained:
"So as far as what's underneath this, I don't know, it could be this thickness.
Credit: BBC
Advert
"It doesn't even have to be that think, because we can only drill down eight miles. Heck, this is only fifty miles deep, we don't know. So, it could be this sort of dimension."
Got all that? No, me neither.
"Don't take my word for it," he continued.
"I could be a mental patient recently released from an institution."
Ok, well, that clears that up.
Credit: BBC
Advert
The conference may not have forced NASA and the government into submission, but in spite of its shortcomings, another one is already being organised for 2018.
On its website, the organisation says: "Join us this November to learn why we dissent from the spinning heliocentric theory of cosmology.
"At the 2018 Flat Earth International Conference, we will uncover and debunk pseudo-scientific "facts" while presenting the true evidence which shockingly points to our existence on a flat, stationary plane."
Erm, nah, you're alright, thanks.
Advert
Source: BBC
Featured Image Credit: BBCTopics: flat earth, Nasa