I was watching the History Channel today. Not sure how they get away with calling it that considering some of their programming, but anyway... to my annoyance, they were playing yet another Ancient Aliens episode. While watching, I got to thinking about something. These people who believe in extra terrestrials visiting Earth on that show also claim that ET visitors explain the beliefs of ancient peoples in gods. The people on the show say the gods were ET's. How many of these people answer surveys as non-religious, agnostic, or atheist? I don't know how all the people in this forum feel about ET visitors and such, but I suddenly feel a bit more outnumbered than I used to, as I don't buy into any of it, and I imagine at least some self-labeled non-religious folk do.
I'm not discouraged or down about it or anything. Just something I found interesting, and for some reason felt it was worth posting about at 2am.
When I was a teenager I was quite into UFOs. Then I grew up! Looking at the Drake Equation and the distribution of stars within a thousand or so light years of Earth I strongly doubt that we have been contacted by ETs, or ever will be.
I pretty much gave up on the History Channel back in the days when all their programming was about Hitler or the Civil War -- both interesting topics, but damn, 24/7? The ancient aliens things will continue to keep me away since it just seems like preposterous reaching to me. I wonder if the HC has also joined the ghost hunting craze?
While it is theoretically possible that the gods of some ancient civilizations were aliens, since as Arthur C. Clarke said it :"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic", I do think that if such were the case we would have some archeological evidence of it. I mean, where are the ray guns?
I like that show its so stupid its brilliant. I love how they present their evidence it makes me laugh for a good minute without fail. It reminds me of an episode of '8 out of 10 Cats' when Vic Reeves keeps pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket which a doodle that says "proof" to the surreal statement he just made. I think it does highlight some interesting archeology, but time and time again forgets to mention any of the real evidence that surrounds it and once you have researched the mentioned item(s) properly it makes the show look even more retarded.
I have never seen the show and have done everything in my power to avoid it. I think there is a good probability there are aliens out there but am highly skeptical of any earthlings making contact with them.
I also found it odd that those who were abducted have never had any signs of testing, unless it's a government coverup, which I seriously doubt since abductee's keep running their mouths.
You would also think the aliens would start abducting intellectuals instead of the standard to low IQ individuals they have kidnapped up to this point.
I also don't understand the History Channel being called that. Half the time when they cover actual history they twist the facts to make the shows more interesting.
Quote from: Crow on April 17, 2012, 06:46:38 PM
I like that show its so stupid its brilliant. I love how they present their evidence it makes me laugh for a good minute without fail. It reminds me of an episode of '8 out of 10 Cats' when Vic Reeves keeps pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket which a doodle that says "proof" to the surreal statement he just made. I think it does highlight some interesting archeology, but time and time again forgets to mention any of the real evidence that surrounds it and once you have researched the mentioned item(s) properly it makes the show look even more retarded.
This is how I feel about it too. I've only seen it a few times, but it did make me giggle.
Quote from: ThinkAnarchy on April 17, 2012, 07:01:27 PM
You would also think the aliens would start abducting intellectuals instead of the standard to low IQ individuals they have kidnapped up to this point.
Luckily for us they don't.
I'm with Crow and Ali. I just happened to see an episode (or not so much as see an episode as seeing about a five minute segment before I had to change the channel, because my heard started to hurt from all the faceplams), where they showed ancient statues. The show was about the idea that deceases come from outer space and that ET's might be using Earth as a germ lab of some sort (don't ask). I pretty much lost it when they showed several statues and the chief jackass "experts" voices say how the characters look like they were wearing a chemical-protection suit or some such. Right before showing a picture of one in "comparison" to the statue. For fu....kthxbai!
I also used to be big on aliens and UFO's. And ghosts. So much so that I still can't bring myself watch anything ghost or haunting related after dark and I refuse to watch movies like the Exorcist....(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi4.ifrm.com%2Fhtml%2Femoticons%2Fdry.gif&hash=d4ea375648c78b5abb28803f0452fc8f251d6958) And the only thing more scarier then ghost were mummies. There was apparently something deeply disturbing in wrapped up corpses that had their brains removed through their noses....
Quote from: En_Route on April 17, 2012, 09:47:06 PM
Quote from: ThinkAnarchy on April 17, 2012, 07:01:27 PM
You would also think the aliens would start abducting intellectuals instead of the standard to low IQ individuals they have kidnapped up to this point.
Luckily for us they don't.
Lucky for YOU maybe.
Quote from: Ali on April 17, 2012, 11:11:16 PM
Quote from: En_Route on April 17, 2012, 09:47:06 PM
Quote from: ThinkAnarchy on April 17, 2012, 07:01:27 PM
You would also think the aliens would start abducting intellectuals instead of the standard to low IQ individuals they have kidnapped up to this point.
Luckily for us they don't.
Lucky for YOU maybe.
False modesty becomes you.
Quote from: Crow on April 17, 2012, 06:46:38 PM
I like that show its so stupid its brilliant. I love how they present their evidence it makes me laugh for a good minute without fail.
I think that is the reason it is on the air...there aren't that many people who really think aliens have visited earth. Of course, I'm surrounded mostly by intelligent people through my daily life so I could just not be aware of all the stupid stuff the average person believes.
I think that guy with the crazy hair that they have on the show as their expert is hilarious....i like to think they chose him for comedy as certainly he wasn't their only option.
Some of the stuff they cover on that show is interesting and some is even enough to give pause to maybe think about how some of the things they find were made way back in ancient times....the problem is jumping to conclusions. I think applying ockam's razor means the reasonable explanation till further evidence is that ancients were smarter than we give them credit for.
Quote from: En_Route on April 17, 2012, 09:47:06 PM
Quote from: ThinkAnarchy on April 17, 2012, 07:01:27 PM
You would also think the aliens would start abducting intellectuals instead of the standard to low IQ individuals they have kidnapped up to this point.
Luckily for us they don't.
Maybe they should take more low IQ people. XD
I have a friend that actually believes all of that stuff.
When I first heard the idea of the Gods/Goddesses of ancient civilizations being aliens I was fascinated. It would make some awesome fiction, I say. However, I don't believe it. All of the evidence believers of ancient astronauts (in general, not just the ancient deities) piece together is incredibly hard to believe. A lot of it is stretching very, very, very far.
Unfortunately, it bears a lot of resemblance to religious beliefs. While believers of deities can say "God can not be detected by science" to get out of the lack of evidence for them, the believers of this alien stuff will say "The government is hiding everything from us. Everything you know is a lie.".
BTW, I believe that the man with the crazy hair that shows up in internet memes is an atheist. Or at least one of the guys on the show is (I don't know, I've never watched it to be honest) because my friend said something to the effect of "[The man] has some interesting points, but he's acts too certain of the non-existence of God." My friend identifies as an "Agnostic Theist".
Quote from: Radiant on April 19, 2012, 04:37:38 AM
I have a friend that actually believes all of that stuff.
When I first heard the idea of the Gods/Goddesses of ancient civilizations being aliens I was fascinated. It would make some awesome fiction, I say.
Stargate SG-1, surely?
Certainly sounds like some producer was watching a late-night episode and thought, 'Brilliant! There *must* be some nutters who actually believe this'.
Meh, The Story Channel uses what sells, there could be something worth watching every now and then, but most of the time it's ridiculous. Good for entertainment, laughs or just to see what people are into watching these days and not much else.
I've pretty much stopped watching the history channel. The science channel is pretty good, but they are already starting to degrade themselves. Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman took a pretty long hit in quality after the fourth episode. Plus, they always come up with "String Theory" as the answer to most of the questions. Yawn.