It seems as if those that don't have a religious belief are always seeking something to believe in. This makes sense, as all humans seek patterns in the universe around them. This can lead to some interesting beliefs that are viewed just as uncritically as some religious views.
I have been forced to watched "Ancient Aliens" and was all sorts of amused. Obviously I've been watching all of the wrong shows as I can see a lot of options that have not been explored, as well as some facts that are just all sorts of wrong. Most of the facts I can pretty much ignore as a lot of them are up to debate anyway; there are enough details that we are unsure about when it comes to ancient history that I'm not going to stress over a couple of decades here and there.
However, what amuses me is the extent to which they seem to wish to deny what humans can do with the right motivation. I'm not denying that we haven't been visited aliens or that may have had some influence in our growth; it would sort of egotistical to assume we are the only ones in the universe and ridiculous to assume that they would stick to any kind of prime directive, even if they had one. However, to assume that all of our bigger accomplishments is solely because of alien, or even a good percentage, is patently ludicrous; that denies the fun of being human and discovering things on our own.
That a certain number of images seem to repeat should not be a major surprise. Snakes seem to be a favorite image on the show; that they should be represented across the globe is hardly a surprise given how common they are. There are just so many concepts that were around back then, so it makes sense that they were copied across the world. It doesn't help that they have looked for similar images, even comparing Zeus and Odin pointing out that they were both white males in charge of their respective pantheons so they had to be the same despite that they have little else in common.
But it's the megalithic structures that really amuse. Don't get me wrong; alien help would have been appreciated. Personally I think that a lot of them could be easily explained by sheer boredom; you know that way too many of them began with some variation of:
"Dude, we're out of beer. What should we do now?"
"Idunno. Move that pile of rocks from there to there?"
"Sure. Why not?"
If you have ever been a teenage boy you recognize this as pretty much part of the process before something stupid happened and it's unlikely THAT much has changed. At some point they simply decided to start getting fancy, and piles became ziggurats and they in turn became pyramids. Then they started building cities, and somewhere in there Stonehenge and the Moai happened. Seriously: Give enough guys too much time and miracles start popping up.
[Sure, I'm over-simplifying here, especially as it was mostly slave labor. However, keep in mind that being a slave didn't have the same connotation as it does in later eras, and that it would ensure that the person's family was taken care of as well; some slaves were even paid wages and given important responsibilities. Also keep in mind that it gave them a chance to escape the farms, which almost all of the population was required to work in order to make sure there was food for everyone else. From the perspective of those in charge, it meant fewer people roving the countryside doing bad things, of which there were a lot. There were a lot of parallels between pyramid-building and America's Public Works Projects in the 1930s...]
And I'm not ignoring the time issue. Some of these took hundreds of years, sure, but look how long some castles and cathedrals took to build; some of those took decades, others just under a century and a half. It's not that hard to see a large group of people taking the same amount of time for something as important.
So I see "Ancient Aliens" and it's ilk as pretty much entertainment. It's fun to watch, especially for some for great ideas for that next science fiction novel. But what sort of scares me is that there are some people that take this seriously. I guess if you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything....
I have been forced to watched "Ancient Aliens" and was all sorts of amused. Obviously I've been watching all of the wrong shows as I can see a lot of options that have not been explored, as well as some facts that are just all sorts of wrong. Most of the facts I can pretty much ignore as a lot of them are up to debate anyway; there are enough details that we are unsure about when it comes to ancient history that I'm not going to stress over a couple of decades here and there.
However, what amuses me is the extent to which they seem to wish to deny what humans can do with the right motivation. I'm not denying that we haven't been visited aliens or that may have had some influence in our growth; it would sort of egotistical to assume we are the only ones in the universe and ridiculous to assume that they would stick to any kind of prime directive, even if they had one. However, to assume that all of our bigger accomplishments is solely because of alien, or even a good percentage, is patently ludicrous; that denies the fun of being human and discovering things on our own.
That a certain number of images seem to repeat should not be a major surprise. Snakes seem to be a favorite image on the show; that they should be represented across the globe is hardly a surprise given how common they are. There are just so many concepts that were around back then, so it makes sense that they were copied across the world. It doesn't help that they have looked for similar images, even comparing Zeus and Odin pointing out that they were both white males in charge of their respective pantheons so they had to be the same despite that they have little else in common.
But it's the megalithic structures that really amuse. Don't get me wrong; alien help would have been appreciated. Personally I think that a lot of them could be easily explained by sheer boredom; you know that way too many of them began with some variation of:
"Dude, we're out of beer. What should we do now?"
"Idunno. Move that pile of rocks from there to there?"
"Sure. Why not?"
If you have ever been a teenage boy you recognize this as pretty much part of the process before something stupid happened and it's unlikely THAT much has changed. At some point they simply decided to start getting fancy, and piles became ziggurats and they in turn became pyramids. Then they started building cities, and somewhere in there Stonehenge and the Moai happened. Seriously: Give enough guys too much time and miracles start popping up.
[Sure, I'm over-simplifying here, especially as it was mostly slave labor. However, keep in mind that being a slave didn't have the same connotation as it does in later eras, and that it would ensure that the person's family was taken care of as well; some slaves were even paid wages and given important responsibilities. Also keep in mind that it gave them a chance to escape the farms, which almost all of the population was required to work in order to make sure there was food for everyone else. From the perspective of those in charge, it meant fewer people roving the countryside doing bad things, of which there were a lot. There were a lot of parallels between pyramid-building and America's Public Works Projects in the 1930s...]
And I'm not ignoring the time issue. Some of these took hundreds of years, sure, but look how long some castles and cathedrals took to build; some of those took decades, others just under a century and a half. It's not that hard to see a large group of people taking the same amount of time for something as important.
So I see "Ancient Aliens" and it's ilk as pretty much entertainment. It's fun to watch, especially for some for great ideas for that next science fiction novel. But what sort of scares me is that there are some people that take this seriously. I guess if you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything....
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