tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3179069863789416483.post1045673756919290542..comments2023-07-19T07:49:53.361-07:00Comments on a few years in the Absolute Elsewhere: First Rule of Space Exploration: Don’t Feed the Phallic/Vaginal Reptiles (Ridley Scott’s Prometheus)Tristan Eldritchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10239386613395519115noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3179069863789416483.post-79902297742346506812012-06-18T16:56:49.650-07:002012-06-18T16:56:49.650-07:00Hey Mike. I haven't seen too much of the Anci...Hey Mike. I haven't seen too much of the Ancient Aliens series, but I find the format of those shows hilarious: the more or less constant barrage of leading questions from the narrator! Pure infotainment, kind of fun if you're in the right frame of mind. Thanks for bringing Gobekli Tepe to my attention, that's fascinating!Tristan Eldritchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10239386613395519115noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3179069863789416483.post-64856102654991240722012-06-18T14:06:42.752-07:002012-06-18T14:06:42.752-07:00While I view the assertions and conjectures often ...While I view the assertions and conjectures often presented in the <br />Ancient Astronaut Series seriously flawed and sometimes laughingly absurd, I think there are non-the-less legitimate questions regarding our origens that are worthy of serious investigation. <br /><br />Gobekli Tepe is a fascinating glich in the accepted history of the development of mankind pushing the history of monumental building back centuries before thought possible. <br /><br />So I don't don't discount discoveries that will upset the proverbial applecart of accepted wisdom, but I don't look for them to come from a television series with some questionable experts expounding on nonsense that they hope will sell their books.<br /><br />Enjoyed your take as usual Tristan.Michael Garretthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14863313404953361727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3179069863789416483.post-14142336083567114312012-06-16T05:20:59.199-07:002012-06-16T05:20:59.199-07:00Hey Kandinsky, thanks for your kind comments. I&#...Hey Kandinsky, thanks for your kind comments. I'm inclined to agree with much of what you say, and the logic of limited human capacity and ingenuity is also one that afflicts people who cannot conceive of human beings being capable of producing prettily designed crop circles overnight.<br /><br />That said, I think the argument you make regarding sci-fi is less clear cut. The further back one goes, the less clear-cut the idea of "fiction" becomes - and it becomes more difficult to untangle real history and real convictions about the nature of the world from what is deliberately imaginative or allegorical in nature. The audiences to the Sumerian or Homeric myths regarded those myths in a very different fashion to that which we regard Middle Earth or Star Wars - and much of our our fantasy literature is infused with a nostalgia for the mythic consciousness that produced those types of stories in the first place. There is still, I think, much mystery regarding the old myths - and even a skeptic like Carl Sagan found the consistency of the Oannes myths intriguing - but, needless to say, there are also many possibilities other than ancient aliens implied by these mysteries.<br /><br />I would suggest that one of the reasons why the ancient astronaut thesis is so appealing to people is that, like the old myths themselves, it facilitates a blurring of the lines between our cultural imagination and how we regard the world to actually be. Much of the UFO mythology is like this - it is a kind of lived sci-fi.Tristan Eldritchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10239386613395519115noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3179069863789416483.post-73572481381096970312012-06-16T01:22:07.439-07:002012-06-16T01:22:07.439-07:00Although I detest the ancient astronaut idea, I fo...Although I detest the ancient astronaut idea, I found your article to be very well-executed; it was interesting and rather comprehensive. <br /><br />It seems to me, the idea has somehow agglomerated into all things to all people. Mystics, gnostics and 'end is nigh' squealers have taken the possibility to heart. The 'UFO community' likewise never miss an opportunity to press-gang any unknown into the service of visiting ETs. Medieval art? Aliens! Paleolithic rock art? Aliens!<br /><br />Human achievements are blithely tossed aside in favour of mystification; ignorance is re-branded as 'open-minded.' <br /><br />Using your sci-fi as an example, the works of authors like Iain M Banks or Asimov are evidence of the sheer scope of human imagination. We can conceive of so much and yet not the possibility that ancient humans could conjure up the rule of law or trial-and-error their way towards grand architecture. <br /><br />Nope. It's always those bloody aliens getting the credit by folk who apparently never read sci-fi, history or archetypes in mythology. <br /><br />Anyway, enough moaning. Nice article.Kandinskyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11598864214791609926noreply@blogger.com