The hypothesis that unexpected leaps forward in science and technology are caused not by human innovation, but by the influence of extraterrestrials, is not an uncommon hypothesis put forward by those who believe in the ancient astronauts “theory”. First, what evidence is there that these advances in science and technology were by any means sudden? Scholars know that the transition from nomadic hunting and gathering to sedentary agriculture was a very long process that spanned over thousands of years, no one suddenly decided overnight to settle down and start tilling the land, and that there were many intermittent stages in between these two phases. Of course, it was such a long time ago that it can seem like it all happened suddenly, and most cultures that made the transition did not record their own history at that point. A historical event that there is actual written evidence of is the building of the pyramids. Scholars have discovered written records of resources used, where they got those resources from and how they got them, as well as records of the workers who built them, where they lived, along with plans and guides as to how the building of the pyramids was completed. We also know that the pyramids were not built all at once, but over the span of many pharaohs and dynasties, and it took very many slaves and workers to complete the construction. To say that they were all built simultaneously or rather quickly would be ignoring the very prominent and incredibly obvious records that we have of their construction. One of the cases made in Ancient Aliens is that the destruction of cultural heritage that is being done by ISIS is because Aliens are commanding ISIS to destroy these artifacts and historical sites because they don’t want evidence of their landing on Earth to be found. This theory is not only incredibly absurd but also incredibly unfounded by evidence. ISIS has acknowledged that their destruction of this cultural heritage is because of their following of Salafism, which places great importance on monotheism, and many of these artifacts and sites have to do with ancient cultures who practiced polytheism. They also loot many sites and sell the artifacts on the black market in order to finance their organization. We know that they are a radical religious group and that they have no respect for other cultures other than their own because of this, so this reasoning makes sense, especially because it comes from them and is their own words. To posit that they aren’t telling the truth and are being controlled by aliens is complete disregard for the seriousness of their actions as well as disrespect for the victims of their crimes and their place in our shared history, as well as ignoring the reasoning for why this group exists and past events in the Middle East leading up to their taking power.
2 thoughts on “Blog Post 3: Ancient Astronaut theorists vs. basic reasoning”
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I completely agree with what you’re saying. Ancient astronaut believers ignore simple, often well-documented answers to questions with convoluted, extremely complex answers. It’s comparable to looking at Copernicus’s heliocentric model of the solar system and saying, “actually, I buy this one where Earth is at the center and sometimes the stars go backward for no reason.” It just doesn’t make sense. I would add that the pseudoarchaeological motives for believing these complicated, nonsense answers versus straightforward reasoning stem back to deep, systemic racism within their belief system. It is easier for them to believe that aliens built the pyramids because acknowledging that the ancient Egyptians could build them means acknowledging that before Europeans knew how to do pretty much anything significant, ancients in the Middle East were scientifically advanced. It means acknowledging that there is nothing inherent or natural, or even historical about European advancement and “superiority.” If they make up conspiracies, they can continue to pretend that non-Europeans are and always were “primitives.”
I agree with what you are saying about the claims that Daesh was destroying history to “cover-up for the aliens.” It is despicable that Giorgio Tsoukalos and his associates would try and capitalize on a humanitarian and historical tragedy like the actions of Daesh to advance their narrative. The fact that they would try and make money off of suffering like that is disgusting. I absolutely agree with what you say about how positing that their actions are motivated by conspiracy deflects and negates the seriousness of Daesh’s actions.
Hi Sabrina! I agree with everything you said in your post. I think it is incredibly important for the passage of time to be acknowledged when thinking about ancient cultures and groups because, like you said, a long time ago people slowly developed and changed how they did things, like transitioning from gathering and hunting to farming. The change was not sudden like these “theorists” want to believe but it was a slow transition from hunting and gathering to horticulture to agriculture. It is also important for ancient documents to be acknowledged when looking at the past and different innovations made by humans. Your example of the pyramids is a really great one. There are documents that literally show how people built the pyramids and where they got the resources for them. These are very important to recognize because they quite literally tell us how something was built, it is irrefutable evidence that humans built the pyramids throughout the reign of several pharaohs and all of it is well documented. The last part where you mentioned that these “theorists” are blaming the destruction of ancient and cultural artifacts, features, and sites on messages from aliens to protect and disguise the fact that they visited Earth long ago is, like you said, absurd and incredibly harmful to the people of the area by these unfounded claims.