A gathering of skeptics and Flat Earth enthusiasts came together in California over the weekend for a summit that may rival Donald Trump meeting Kim Jong-Un when it comes to sheer strangeness. The curious confab came together after James Underdown, who leads a skeptical group based out of Los Angeles, announced plans to demonstrate that the planet is round via a series of experiments at the Salton Sea. He told a local TV station that, after seeing the stunning rise in popularity online for the Flat Earth, he felt compelled to debunk the idea and "decided to sort of address this in person" rather than through blog posts or YouTube videos.
Word of the event made its way to the ever-vigilant Flat Earth research community and led to a little over two dozen passionate advocates for the idea showing up at Underwood's undertaking. As the conspiracy theorists looked on, the skeptic showed, by way of a boat sailing on the sea, that the curvature of the Earth can been seen by how stripes on the ship slowly disappeared from view. However, the classic example often used by critics did little to convince the Flat Earth fans in attendance.
When asked if anyone from his group had changed their mind about the shape of the planet, prominent Flat Earth researcher and former C2C guest Mark Sargent succinctly told KESQ, "not a chance." And a fascinating look at the event from the perspective of the Flat Earth camp can be seen in a YouTube video produced by one researcher at the scene. The reaction to the proceedings was largely amusement over the experiments, which they claim "overlooked atmospheric conditions" and were subsequently dubbed "laughable."
For his part, Underwood didn't seem too surprised that he failed to convert the conspiracy theorists, since "they're obviously not convinced by all the other evidence that is out there." In fact, the skeptic seemed more concerned with the general public who may have heard about the conspiracy theory and might be tempted to entertain the idea. As such, he deemed the event a success and, since there were no fisticuffs between the Flat Earth fans and skeptics, we're inclined to agree.