[R.I.P] Erich von Däniken

[Old_Nash_II]

https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/erich-von-dniken-swiss-writer-spawned-alien-archaeology-129100696

Thanks for the books about alien cultures, and for the excellent movie about marathons (okay, forced joke, sorry)

[Seto Kaiba]

For all the vast and far-reaching harm his pseudoscientific quackery has done in the fields of history and archaeology, it can at least be said that he indirectly did some good in his first book inspiring Stargate.

[M'Kyuun]

He posed interesting questions, but rather than allowing credit to go directly or indirectly to aliens, the results of his books and tv offshoots, archeologists should be more fired up than ever to find scientific solutions to the hows and whys of ancient constructs. One thing's for certain, ancient humans were far more capable than we like to think they were.

I do enjoy all the globetrotting on "Ancient Aliens" as I've been introduced to far more ancient sites through that show than through traditional historical programs, which is disheartening given the scale and sheer numbers of monuments around the globe, and the spurious nature of AA.

[Big s]

32 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

I do enjoy all the globetrotting on "Ancient Aliens" as I've been introduced to far more ancient sites through that show than through traditional historical programs, which is disheartening given the scale and sheer numbers of monuments around the globe, and the spurious nature of AA.

I kinda blame the changes that the history channel and TLC channels made towards the end of the 90’s. They were far more about education than cheap reality tv. I still remember that the TLC in TLC channel as an acronym for The Learning Channel. Same thing with MTV being Music Television. Too much trashy unrealistic reality shows and not enough focus on what the channels were meant to be.

[Seto Kaiba]

4 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

He posed interesting questions, but rather than allowing credit to go directly or indirectly to aliens, the results of his books and tv offshoots, archeologists should be more fired up than ever to find scientific solutions to the hows and whys of ancient constructs.

In most cases, those "hows" and "whys" of the ancient constructs in question had already been found out and fairly well documented years if not decades before von Daniken put pen to paper.

Von Daniken's books ignore the findings of real archaeologists in favor of fantastical nonsense about alien intervention because they aren't trying to present a serious scientific theory, they're a vehicle for racist ideology.  The whole premise underlying the ancient alien intervention hypothesis von Daniken popularized is minimizing or handwaving the achievements of indigenous cultures in Africa, Asia, and the Americas (but not Europe) by claiming those native civilizations couldn't have built or discovered what they did when they did without a superior civilization's assistance. 

Looking up who his editor was is enough to make it very clear that that is not accidental.

[M'Kyuun]

Admittedly, I own a copy of Chariots of the Gods, which I bought many years ago and read only that once. I've watched numerous eps of Ancient Aliens, and my wife and I like to laugh about some of the outlandish stuff they all come up with. However, I never noticed the subtle, or perhaps not so subtle in retrospect, racial demeaning of certain cultures while leaving others out in their alleged necessity for "otherworldly" assistance in creating their monuments. I appreciate your enlightening insights. Suddenly, it all eaves a bad taste in hindsight.

[Big s]

24 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

Admittedly, I own a copy of Chariots of the Gods, which I bought many years ago and read only that once. I've watched numerous eps of Ancient Aliens, and my wife and I like to laugh about some of the outlandish stuff they all come up with. However, I never noticed the subtle, or perhaps not so subtle in retrospect, racial demeaning of certain cultures while leaving others out in their alleged necessity for "otherworldly" assistance in creating their monuments. I appreciate your enlightening insights. Suddenly, it all eaves a bad taste in hindsight.

Reminds me of how a lot of us loved the show Dukes of Hazard and then everyone in the next generation points out the flag on the car.

[M'Kyuun]

2 minutes ago, Big s said:

Reminds me of how a lot of us loved the show Dukes of Hazard and then everyone in the next generation points out the flag on the car.

True. My younger self had no idea about the dark side of that flag and what it symbolized. The show was just stupid goofy fun, typically 80s.

[Big s]

5 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

True. My younger self had no idea about the dark side of that flag and what it symbolized. The show was just stupid goofy fun, typically 80s.

Same here. I felt kinda dumb when people brought it up 20 or 30 years later.

[Old_Nash_II]

6 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

True. My younger self had no idea about the dark side of that flag and what it symbolized. The show was just stupid goofy fun, typically 80s.

Same here XD

[Thom]

9 hours ago, Big s said:

Reminds me of how a lot of us loved the show Dukes of Hazard and then everyone in the next generation points out the flag on the car.

So much this!! Loved it when I was so much younger, all the cool car chases and incredible jumps (Daisy Duke...)

But now, I'd take the General Grant any day over a car with a traitor flag on it.

As to von Daniken, my sympathy for his loved ones, but he was a cook. Literally everything that humanity has done in its long history, wiped away in favor of mythical space gods for which they found no proof for anything. Just like the Dukes of Hazzard when I was a kid, it was fun fantasy. Now...

Edited 23 hours ago by Thom