chariots of the gods

It doesn't matter if the book was debunked or who wrote it. The movie gives it's own interpretation on the ancient astronaut theory and the creation of man, based on the sumerian creation myth and the enumah elish. We don't know what those tablets really say partly because of damage and missing parts, and because the translations are mostly based on the translators point of view (no rosetta stone and a dead language/writting), like how many americans give different interpretations when translating japanese. What i do know is that everytime someone comes up with a radical idea so called "experts" jump at the chance to crucify their beliefs if they're not the same as the already established mainstream belief. I believe in the ancient astronaut theory but I don't need a book to tell me that aliens meddled in our history, I have the bible for that. The minute i picked the bible when I was 7-8 yrs old and read it I knew that there was more to it and mind you I'm a country boy, never heard of chariots or similar books in my life and we only had 3 local channels in tv (spanish tv), so its not like I had anything influencing me in my beliefs; just a bible and some critical thinking. In fact, I was expelled from my church for asking these type of questions and saying that there was more than one god in the old testament. My mother never forgave me for getting her expelled As for von Daniken's conviction, just because he was convicted doesnt mean that you cant turn your life around. Mind though that he falsified some of his findings to promote his book and idea so he is not the best example. But he put the idea in people's minds and more people today believe that there is more than what the church says. The problem is that even if irrefutable proof is found in let's say 10 yrs or aliens land on the planet ala ID4, those that dont want to believe will not believe.

If we are going to bring the bible into this, I must say that supernatural forces can be explained as extra terrestrial if you want, but there's no need for them to be from somewhere else. They have been here as long as we have if not longer. One possible explanation: aliens higher intelligences from other planets. If that is the case, then why did they leave? I doubt primitive man was able to kick up a rebellion that forced them out. Another possible explanation: Beings of pure energy that can manifest physically for a short period of time with the help of genetic material such as blood. Call them gods, angels or demons. They don't have to be from another planet. We don't have as much contact as we once did because we do not offer as many blood sacrifices as a species as we once did. These could be the gods of ancient civilizations, but it doesn't explain the technology. The chariots of the Gods theory that an advanced civilization meddled with our ancient civilizations could actually be indicative of the pre flood societies. If the pre flood humans lived as long as the bible says that they did, then the population would have reached the billions in a few thousand years. 800 years of reproductive viability per individual makes the growth rate pretty impressive. The society had to progress to a technological level that would support such a population, and so they left evidence or memories on walls in hieroglyphics and pictographs. The bible even says that the society had forgotten about God almost entirely. I would infer that a society that has nearly forgotten about God is a society that has very little hunger or need. This society would have to be technologically advanced. As soon as the flood was over they managed to construct technological marvels that impressed God (tower of babel). Once God scattered them through the splintering of the languages their technological advances slowed considerably. Since we are all speculating here. The advanced society didn't come from somewhere else, in fact, it never left. It just got decimated by an Extinction Level Event.

God I hope not. People shouldn't be polluting their minds with psuedoscience garbage like that. If you seriously believe in any of that crap, you should start sticking crystals up your ass. [img]http://cdn.geckoandfly.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ancient_aliens_guy.jpg[/img]

"If Prometheus is half as successful (by that I mean good) as we all hope it will then I guess books such as chariots of the gods may get a new set of readers." I certainly hope not, Bazza. Von Däniken and co.'s nonsense doesn't need to get more popular. Not when so many people still cling to it. It's frustrating to see these "theories" (they actually don't even qualify as hypotheses in the scientific sense) linger for so long despite the efforts of many genuinely knowledgeable people (like Sagan) to dispel them and inform people of the facts. It's so easy to spread some exciting nonsense about the origins of human culture but so difficult to change people's minds once they've decided that the fantasy is preferable to reality. I have no problem with Prometheus positing some ancient astronaut intervention in human history because it's fiction and has no pretensions of being anything else. Once people start trying to pass that fiction off as reality is when I start having a problem with it.

There is no point in discussing something that it's a personal belief of each person. Truth is RS did get some inspiration from either the book or the actual sumerian myth. People believe what they want to believe, it's in our nature, and no amount of evidence can change it. As I said, even if in 10 years from now (hipothetically) we have a worldwide alien encounter ala star trek, people will believe what they want. Perhaps only when we are able to manipulate genes to create new lifeforms (which is not far off, we already able to do some manipulation), will we start formulating new questions about how did we come to be. The more science and technology advances, the more explanations and even more questions appear.