While all of us have grown up learning about the heliocentric model of our solar system, there are still a large number of people in the world who believe in the concept of a 'flat earth'. Proof is the Flat Earth International Conference (FEIC) of 2017, which was a sellout event, attended by hundreds of people. The conference discussed topics like "NASA lies" and 9/11 conspiracy theories.
The FEIC is held every year and is attended by people who have stopped believing that the earth is round. "After extensive experimentation, analysis, and research, we have come to know that the truth of our cosmology is not that which we've been told," says the website.
This year, ticket prices went up to £114 or $150 and yet people arrived in North Carolina from as far as Pennsylvania to attend it.
Refuting scientifically proven facts
The community of flat-earth believers is quite big and influential. Mark Sargent, a professional gamer turned software trainer turned flat-earther, has 43,414 subscribers on his YouTube channel, where he posts videos about how we have been falsely led to believe that the earth is round and spinning in space.
As for why we do not fall off the edge of the earth, flat-earthers explain that the surface of the planet is surrounded by an icy wall (Antarctica) which keeps us from crossing it and tumbling into whatever exists beyond.
"So as far as what's underneath this, I don't know, it could be this thickness. 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," Sargent told BBC, when asked about the thickness of a flat earth. "Don't take my word for it, I could be a mental patient recently released from an institution," he added.
What is more surprising is that they think the sun and moon are holograms in the sky, projected manually to convince people of the authenticity of the universe's heliocentric model.
What flat-earthers believe
A popular belief among them is that the sun is very small and quite close to the earth. It is assumed to be a hundred metres wide and five miles above the earth. Instead, they believe that the moon is much larger than the earth, causing a lunar eclipse when it passes beneath the little sun.
The community staunchly believes that the concept of a spherical earth is a worldwide hoax that can be examined by "Flat Earth with the Scientific Method." The conference also discussed the flaws in NASA's declarations and the "faked moon landing" which it showed to the world.
Flat-earthers also believe that the 9/11 attacks are fictional, the Government practices mind control over people and the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary were made-up.
