Ancient aliens on the history channel. Arrrrghhh!

[Jack7]

So PP, are you saying that you don't believe in ancient astronauts drawing maps for Turkish Admirals, or that you don't believe in the History Channel?

I'd rather have whacked out shows like that than shows like "Iceroad Truckers" on the History Channel.

I like Axe Men better, though I'm not sure who runs it. At least those lumberjacks get compound fractures and stuff.

though there is was the article about pets being psychically linked to their owners.

I think my bitch is. Every time I think I've snuck out of the house to go for a ride she ambushes me or is waiting for me in the back seat. Which wouldn't be so bad except for all the shedding and gnawing on my hand as I drive. Still, she's got some kinda lock on me. I just ain't figured it out yet.

This is different from the series where they try to find Bigfoot and other oddities?

I'm not sure bigfoot thinks he's odd. It may just be glandular. We'll probably never know til we get one in a bear cage, or catch one coming out of an Applebees.

That's... kind of like walking into Taco Bell and complaining that there aren't place settings on the table

Every time I walk into a Taco Bell I get diarrhea. It happens when I walk back outta there too. It must be something in the Mountain Dew.

it is a show about aliens. What else could you possibly expect?

A discussion about NAFTA, and free trade?

Well, the least they could've done is interview a few.

I've seen em in commercials, so they can't be that hard to find. Somebody should probably try Hollywood, or Haight-Ashbury.

At what point does it lead to people on a large scale believing in such stuff and basing their actions (or policies) on it?

I based a paper airplane model I built one time on something I saw flying out of Area 51. But I'm not sure of that counts.

Even now (a)days, what we don't know is much greater than what we do know.

And I suspect you may know what you're talking about.

 

[megamania]

Take me to your leader

 

[ProfessorPain]

So PP, are you saying that you don't believe in ancient astronauts drawing maps for Turkish Admirals, or that you don't believe in the History Channel?
.

I don't believe in Ancient Astronauts drawing maps for Turks, and I believe the History Channel has a serious credibility issue. The problem is, sometimes they do serious documentaries with interviews of reputable scholars, but they mix it up with stuff like Alien Astronauts. If it were clear when they were being serious and when they were being tongue in cheek, it would be fine. But they just don't do that. THe alien astronaut program bothered me (more than say the monster quest program), because they built very strong arguments for the alien theories, but didn't contextualize the arguments within the broader debate and failed to present the other side.

 

[ProfessorPain]

There was once a guy named Galileo. He championed Copernicanism, which was crazy and controversial within his lifetime. And, he was locked up.

The danger goes both ways. Even now days, what we don't know is much greater than what we do know.

That doesn't mean every 'crazy' idea should be taken seriously. Especially when the evidence just doesn't support it. The thing with Galileo was, the evidence supported his position. He was going up against tradition. The alien thing is mroe like tradition going up against the evidence. I don't think alien theorists are in danger of being locked up. And to be fair, they get way more air time than they probably deserve.

 

[Jack7]

The alien thing is more like tradition going up against the evidence.

I like the way you said that PP.

And no, not every crazy idea is anything like being even close to the truth. On the other hand some crazy ideas are only not true til the world changes enough to catch up to them.

Still, I get your point. But then again I was just being facetious.
However I will say this about television - it usually does a far better job at exposing information than explaining it.

I'm kinda skeptical about all television.
Everything except the cartoons, and I usually don't believe them.

 

[Wycen]

Well, in the same vein, right now on the Biography channel is:

Independence Day.












As in the sci-fi movie if you weren't sure.

 

[ssampier]

Ancient Aliens documentary or Angels and Demons documentary, hmmm, which is worse?

 

[freyar]

While the physics and (probably -- I don't know myself) in Angels & Demons (at least the book) is pretty awful, the documentary may have some decent science about antimatter. Clifford Johnson, a theoretical physicist at USC, filmed a segment for the documentary: see here. Clifford's fairly well known in high energy physics theory, and he's also done a lot of outreach work in terms of public education and science in media. Can anyone tell me if his segment stayed in the documentary?

 

[jaerdaph]

On a positive note, these pseudo-history/pseudo-science shows and specials make great source/reference material for games like Dark•Matter and Conspiracy X...

 

[ProfessorPain]

Ancient Aliens documentary or Angels and Demons documentary, hmmm, which is worse?

At least you know its a show about a work of fiction, but they support some untenable ideas. It could be worse, they could be airing "The Secret".