𧔠Erich von DÀniken is dead, aged 90.
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@cstross @Richard_Littler It's curious that the Egyptians and Maya had to have some help from aliens but the Romans didn't, isn't it?
@datarama @cstross @Richard_Littler
I don't think the Romans built anywhere near that tall. I think it wasn't until well into the middle ages that buildings surpassed the pyramids in height.
There's a popular idea that the Eiffel Tower was the first structure taller than the pyramids, but that's false. People in the middle ages got ridiculously good at building tall from all those cathedrals.
The Lincoln Cathedral in 1311 surpassed it, but it's possible that the Yongning Pagoda already briefly surpassed it in 516.
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𧔠Erich von DÀniken is dead, aged 90. Many of my generation will remember him as a proponent of the pseudoscientific 'ancient aliens' theory, just one of the many sensationalist supernatural topics that flooded culture in the 1970s.
I've had this book since I was a little kid.@Richard_Littler I remember bringing this book to my freshman high school honors biology class. My teacher rapped me gently on the head with a 1m ruler and said "You know that's all bullshit, right?" (It was a Catholic school, so the ruler was expected.)
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𧔠Erich von DÀniken is dead, aged 90. Many of my generation will remember him as a proponent of the pseudoscientific 'ancient aliens' theory, just one of the many sensationalist supernatural topics that flooded culture in the 1970s.
I've had this book since I was a little kid.@Richard_Littler The PBS show Nova here in the USA did some great shows about how it was possible for all of this stuff to be done by so-called "primitives" - when you've got a motivated populace that intrinsically understands their environment and landscape, anything is possible, given enough time.
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DĂ€niken's 'paleo-contact' claims of extraterrestrial influences on early human development, attracted a dedicated following, despite his earlier convictions for theft, fraud and embezzlement (and robust debunking of his theories). Films, soundtracks, and even prog concept albums followed his books.
@Richard_Littler Why the f*ck is the Saturn V in that illustration?
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@cstross Now, that concept worked out *much* better.
My photos of the Giger-designed bar in GruyĂšres...@Richard_Littler @cstross post alien my next childhood encounter with Giger's work was the use of "Landscape #XX" for the Dead Kennedy's album "Frankenchrist". I think its use as cover art was banned, at least I never saw a copy in the wild, but was included as a poster insert. (It also almost lead to having Jello Biafra locked up for distributing harmful material to minors and bankrupting the Alternative Tentacles record label.)
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𧔠Erich von DÀniken is dead, aged 90. Many of my generation will remember him as a proponent of the pseudoscientific 'ancient aliens' theory, just one of the many sensationalist supernatural topics that flooded culture in the 1970s.
I've had this book since I was a little kid.@Richard_Littler @cmthiede If Iâd known about Betteridgeâs Law of Headlines 50 years ago, I would never have read that book.
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We were in Interlaken! With two kids! And I had no idea I had the perfect opportunity to introduce them to the fascinating world of slightly racist pseudoscience.
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@Richard_Littler Just noting that there's a very skeevy racist subtext running just below the surface of Von Daniken's thesisâthat ancient people *couldn't* have built the monumental structures they left behind, so they must have been "helped" by aliens (clearly white savior-coded).
@cstross @Richard_Littler This is why I've always liked the Woodman hypothesis. He says "OK, let's suppose Von Daniken is right about the Nazca lines: they were meant to be viewed from the sky. Does this really necessitate aliens? Or is it possible that the people of ancient Peru simply invented flight?" And then he goes and demonstrates that it is indeed possible by building a hot air balloon using only materials and tech known to have been available to the builders of the Nazca lines.
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@cstross @Richard_Littler This is why I've always liked the Woodman hypothesis. He says "OK, let's suppose Von Daniken is right about the Nazca lines: they were meant to be viewed from the sky. Does this really necessitate aliens? Or is it possible that the people of ancient Peru simply invented flight?" And then he goes and demonstrates that it is indeed possible by building a hot air balloon using only materials and tech known to have been available to the builders of the Nazca lines.
@cstross @Richard_Littler And, like, it's still basically a crackpot theory with no real evidence behind it, but it's a crackpot theory that's more plausible AND less insulting than the crackpot theory it's reacting to
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DĂ€niken's 'paleo-contact' claims of extraterrestrial influences on early human development, attracted a dedicated following, despite his earlier convictions for theft, fraud and embezzlement (and robust debunking of his theories). Films, soundtracks, and even prog concept albums followed his books.
@Richard_Littler
I have that album. I like it. Though I donât concur with Von DĂ€nikenâs theories -
@cstross @Richard_Littler Thereâs even a meme for thatâŠ
@aprilfollies @cstross @Richard_Littler
Is there a T-shirt with this?
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@cstross Just one example among a great litany of things wrong with his books/theories.
@Richard_Littler @cstross I like the idea that the aliens were in England 8000 years ago, Egypt 6000 years ago, South America 1000 years ago, Easter Island 500 years ago. Every time modern Europeans turn up to a place it's "oh you juuuuust missed them!" Like Carmen Sandiego.
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E energisch_@troet.cafe shared this topic
What a miss!
