Ancient Aliens Anyone?

[Yvsa]

Has anyone here been watching the TV series, "Ancient Aliens" on the History Channel? A lot of it I've seen before on other similar TV shows but It's IMO that this format is the best anyone has ever put together and there's a whole lot of new material!:thumbup:
I don't know if anyone here is interested in the subject of UFO's besides Danny in Japan and myself so I'm posting this just to see. :thumbup: Not only am I interested in UFO's and the folks who have been termed "Ancient Aliens" but also the apparent technology that was available to our ancient ancestors. Some of the things they're showing in the series Ancient Aliens is nearly beyond belief!
On the latest show in the series one fellow used the dimensions from one of the very small gold artifacts that looks very much like an airplane and increased the dimensions to a flyable model's size and then built a model using those exact dimensions. It's kind of a strange looking airplane because it has an open area in between what appears to be the cabin and the cargo area. What was so amazing is that the aircraft flew perfectly!!!!! Check it out.... http://www.philipcoppens.com/bbl_plane.html

I've been watching the TV Series, "Ancient Aliens" on the History Channel and on one of the 2 hour shows they had an Engineer/Machinist that had visited Egypt with an eye for Engineering/Machining Techniques and like he said, "If you're looking at something with a particular eye toward it you're liable to find evidence of whatever your looking for with no problems." and unsurprisingly that's what happened.
Interestingly he wasn't the only one with an eye out for tool marks as I discovered when I got too looking around and being an old retired machinist myself I can tell you that what they found is nothing short of astounding!!!!!

While checking out some info on Puma Punku in Bolivia I stumbled across some more interesting things/subjects dealing with UFO's and Egypt such as machining stone with machine tools.....

This link takes one to several examples of Ancient South American Stonework, and too the scientific community what are some really weird and outrageous claims of working said stone.
http://members.tripod.com/~kon_artz/cultures/stonetec.htm

And maybe although it not ought to be, because of the mystery of how such stonework was fitted together to begin with; What's of the most interest to me is the last picture shown on the page of the above link because of its, to me, indisputable evidence of Precision Machine Tooling!!!!! Here's the direct link to the picture, this is one of the stones at Puma Punku in Bolivia..... (What's so interesting about this stone and the machined groove is that said groove is 6 mm's wide and evidently the holes are the same or just a tad smaller. Gang - 6 mm's wide equals .2362" slightly more than 3/16" slightly less than 1/4 inch!!!!)
http://members.tripod.com/~kon_artz/cultures/ppgroove.jpg

This link takes one to a marvelous, several page, example of Ancient Egyptian Stone Technology.....
http://www.theglobaleducationproject.org/egypt/articles/stonetech.php

This link has nine pages of examples and information on Advanced Machining in Ancient Egypt.....
http://www.theglobaleducationproject.org/egypt/articles/cdunn-1.php

This link is a YouTube video of the stones and area at Puma Punku in Bolivia, if you've got a bit over 6 minutes it's a great watch. Remember that, "The Gate of the Sun" is cut outta one solid block of granite!!!!
It's unfortunate that it cracked probably somewhere in the distant past.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWM9pUX-ZhA&feature=player_embedded#!

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[Moff8]

I remember my grandfather giving me Chariots of the Gods? when I was a youngin' and telling me that it had all been proved as fiction - but he believed that the Americas had been visited in the past.

I have read the legends around the Ghost Dance and I am not sure if we are not just underestimating the scientific, medical and mathematical abilities of the ancient Aztecs and Myans and maybe a third tribe that hid its discoveries and we just haven't found them yet - or if we ever will.

 

[Ad Astra]

Virtually all the leading physicists and astronomers believe the universe is teeming with life. Visits to Earth by others may be rare, but seem certain to have occurred in the 4.6 billion years this rock's been spinning.

Are *some* UFO sightings these visitiors? It seems so to me.

Christopher Columbus saw colored lights flying near his ships; Romans report a "flying shield." Ancient D,WTF?

Outstanding theoretical physicist and science-champion-to-the-masses Dr. Michio Kaku said recently something along the lines of, "Most of these (UFO) sightings can be explained. But a few, a small percentage of them ... they make my skin crawl."

Dr. Kaku cited the Alaska/JAL cargo plane instance as one of the visual/radar sightings he puts the weight of credibility on. There are many times many.

It's one of my favorite subjects, Yvsa. I recommend Richard Hall's pretty much comprehensive books, especially "The UFO Evidence - Volume 2 : A Thirty Year Report"

Unfortunately for me, like the Blue Oyster Cult lyric says, "Strange shapes light up the night ... never seen one but I hope I might."

Dr. Stephen Hawking was also in the news just last week as saying, basically, we should shut up and not draw attention to ourselves with broadcast signals. Somebody might be listening- and want our resources.

If Hawking and Kaku are concerned about ET's in the neighborhood, well- they have my attention.

Which raises a great theoretical point: If ETs landed, mined all our uranium and left- just exactly who would we report the "crime" to? Kind of like when one seagull steals a bit of food from another- where's the "Authority" to stop this dastardly unfairness?


Mike

EDIT: Can't link to Hall's book, of course. It's on Amazon (wow, $60. Was $40 when I got it.) "The UFO Evidence - Volume 2 : A Thirty Year Report "

Here's a link on the guy; sadly he died last year:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_H._Hall

 

[Steely_Gunz]

Thanks for posting this, Yvsa

I was going to post a thread about a radio signal they supposedly received in the UK a few weeks back. It was coming from a near by galaxy and traveling much too fast and too consistently to be the echo of a super nova.

I love listening to Dr. Kaku:thumbup: He puts very complex things in terms that you can understand yet does not insult your intelligence. I really need to pick up some of his books this winter.

I sadly never got to really speak to my father in law about his views on this subject. He was a spiritual man, a Christian man. However, it was no secret that he wrestled with his faith as he was a scientist and chemist for more than 30 years. Upon poking around some of his old books, I stumbled across MANY on the subject of biblical ancient aliens. It's my earnest belief that some of the information in these books helped him come to terms with balancing his faith and his knowledge in science. If he could explain away the "magic", he could except the peaceful part of the unknown when we Walk West.

 

[gravertom]

Hi guys, this is very much old school Cantina at least in my time frame!

Anyway, even if you don't accept the old earth models, ( which I do not, for scientific as well as theological reasons)there is still plenty of reasons to believe that ancient technology could have been at very high levels at various times over the last 6,000 years or so.

Consider how much advancement there has been in the last few hundred years. What if Rome hadn't decayed and been destroyed? What if the libraries at Alexandria and other places hadn't been burned? If Hero of Alexandria's steam engine had had a chance to be developed without interruption since 10 AD, where would we be today? Star Trek might be a story about our primitive past!

Considering the disruptions of history that we know about, perhaps advanced civilizations and their technologies were lost in the more distant past? Lost wax casting was known to the Etruscans, but only recently rediscovered in the 20th century.

lastly, consider this. We often assume ancient cultures were primitive. I wonder if this bias is due to assumptions concerning the theory of evolution. man "evolved" from simpler life forms, and his intellectual development gradually progressed also. However, If one accepts creationist presuppositions instead of evolutionary ones, then the first man had perhaps a very high level of intelligence, special knowledge imparted to him or his near descendants, and an undiluted genetic code. With the lengthy life spans recored in the Bible that they enjoyed pre flood, what types of technological achievements might they have accomplished?

A whole lot of speculation, but I think it is an interesting hypothesis.

As far as life forms on other planets, I don't have much to say. being a creationist, my understanding is that life is wherever God puts it. Time and chance and odds don't figure into it. Then there are Angelic and Demonic life forms to consider also.

That is my .02 for this interesting topic.

take care,

Tom

 

[MacHete]

Watched the show, find this stuff very interesting. My own take on it? I'm with Tom.

 

[STR]

I'm not so sure of aliens so much as ancient advanced cultures from right here on earth. If the Mayans, Hopis, Zuni, Sumerian and other ancient cultures are correct the earth has gone through ages and periodic cycles of cataclysm. It stands to reason that if an advanced civilization was aware of an impending mega disaster that they could theoretically make it so at least some of them and perhaps their science and technologies could survive and be able to resettle and perhaps repopulate the planet afterwards as well as aid those left to grow and re-learn what was once common knowledge.

In my opinion based on books I've read, including Chariots of the Gods which was one of the first to interest me on the subject, it makes even more sense that egotistical corrupted and evil men power hungry and greedy would notice that after a few generations when they came back from where ever they were staying that the people left on the planet that did survive were very primitive compared to when they left and perhaps some were even suffering from a mass amnesia of sorts that could with time even get more profound. With a little planning and some cunning they could even pull off the ole
'pretend to be gods' routine and manipulate mankind to their liking, take woman they saw that appealed to them as they chose and have their way with them. Of course they could basically run the place with impunity by using their advanced knowledge and technology including flying machines with thunderous sounds and bright lights and fire as well as weapons of mass destruction and there would be little the primitive survivors could do to prevent it.

To me this is far easier to believe than aliens from other planets. Combined with the fact that the ancient writings indicate that the 'gods' had children with woman they took it seems more likely they were indeed very human. As for the Greys and other aliens people supposedly encounter, well from the way they seem to act they could very easily be some kind of android creations as easily as a sensient living being I guess.

Anyway, I read this stuff and listen to Coast to Coast as well as other radio shows when this topic comes up. One of my favorite authors is Graham Hancock. Some of his books have been just spell binding until recently when his last one was a bit disappointing. Fingerprints of the Gods is well worth the read though.

STR

 

[Nicholas]

A) Nothing impossible, only mathematically improbable.

B) You can't prove a negative. (I.e. you can't prove that something can't happen, only that it can.)

I tend to evaluate these theories on a case-by-case basis (whether "Ancient Astronauts" or "Advanced Ancestors"), rather than as an entire phenomenon. And while I usually have to disagree, I would frankly welcome being wrong.....just ONCE.

Moreover, I can often say no more than, "not convinced completely," because the researchers quite often come up with some truly SCARY stuff to ponder. That ancient battery from Mesopotamia(?), which von Daniken chronicled, still gives me the willies.....

 

[DannyinJapan]

Von Daniken's book was ridiculed by almost everybody when it came out, except for his millions of readers. I think it was fair to criticize his book because he did NOT use proper scientific methodology in his analysis. HOWEVER, his theory and a lot of his evidence IS suggestive enough that many other scholars have taken another look and are considering his theory as highly probable.

It really doesn't matter what your subject is, if you don't follow the rules, then academia can laugh at you, which is something they love to do. Academics tend to be fairly insecure because what they teach IS their job security. You can't blame them for frowning on a subject matter that potentially could cost them their jobs and reputations.

In terms of visitors, NOTHING has changed except for the politically correct response to such discussions. In the 50's, it was fine to discuss them until the govt. said "There are NO aliens." Then the atmosphere changed and we became "kooks." Since the 60's, people have learned not to trust the govt. and to ignore them because they are known to lie about a great many subjects. I can't tell you how happy I am that things are finally changing.

On the subject of the ancient visitors - I think it is important to recognize the skills of the ancient ones. Look at these khukuri - I don't know of any modern knifemakers who can do this kind of work. Nobody can write music anymore. There are no Beethovens or Bachs or Haydns writing now. I personally think many of these ancient marvels were entirely made by man. Maybe not all. These crystal skulls really do boggle my mind. The starchild skull is also quite an enigma. (not an artifact,but..)

I think, however, that there are far too many OLD literary and artistic references to visitors than cannot be explained by any rational means other than ET. The slow-moving silver "shields" in the sky the Romans described is an absolutely perfect example. The Christmas "star" is probably another. There are also examples in art that no "expert" can explain..

The Madonna with Saint Giovannino

I can't begin to express how happy I am that mainstream, respected scientists are opening discussing the reality of visitors.

I still have some major issues with NASA, but not all of them are so difficult and non-transparent. If you read nothing else on the subject - Read Paul Hill's book "Unconventional Flying Objects." Paul was a research scientist at NASA for more than 20 years. He also designed the P-47. He was, I think, the most credible voice in the field.

 

[STR]

Von Daniken's book was ridiculed by almost everybody when it came out, except for his millions of readers. I think it was fair to criticize his book because he did NOT use proper scientific methodology in his analysis. HOWEVER, his theory and a lot of his evidence IS suggestive enough that many other scholars have taken another look and are considering his theory as highly probable.

It really doesn't matter what your subject is, if you don't follow the rules, then academia can laugh at you, which is something they love to do. Academics tend to be fairly insecure because what they teach IS their job security. You can't blame them for frowning on a subject matter that potentially could cost them their jobs and reputations.

In terms of visitors, NOTHING has changed except for the politically correct response to such discussions. In the 50's, it was fine to discuss them until the govt. said "There are NO aliens." Then the atmosphere changed and we became "kooks." Since the 60's, people have learned not to trust the govt. and to ignore them because they are known to lie about a great many subjects. I can't tell you how happy I am that things are finally changing.

On the subject of the ancient visitors - I think it is important to recognize the skills of the ancient ones. Look at these khukuri - I don't know of any modern knifemakers who can do this kind of work. Nobody can write music anymore. There are no Beethovens or Bachs or Haydns writing now. I personally think many of these ancient marvels were entirely made by man. Maybe not all. These crystal skulls really do boggle my mind. The starchild skull is also quite an enigma. (not an artifact,but..)

I think, however, that there are far too many OLD literary and artistic references to visitors than cannot be explained by any rational means other than ET. The slow-moving silver "shields" in the sky the Romans described is an absolutely perfect example. The Christmas "star" is probably another. There are also examples in art that no "expert" can explain..

The Madonna with Saint Giovannino

I can't begin to express how happy I am that mainstream, respected scientists are opening discussing the reality of visitors.

I still have some major issues with NASA, but not all of them are so difficult and non-transparent. If you read nothing else on the subject - Read Paul Hill's book "Unconventional Flying Objects." Paul was a research scientist at NASA for more than 20 years. He also designed the P-47. He was, I think, the most credible voice in the field.

I agree. Von Daniken is another example of how man makes progress. Its often uncomfortable to step outside of long held beliefs and people scoffed at in their time are at times elevated to status beyond belief considering how they were treated when they came out publically with their theories. Those that wish to hold on dearly to their ' earth is flat' doctrines and fit everything they find into their own belief system have no business being involved in research. I say this because rather than follow the facts where they lead these types often times discard facts altogether, hide them because they contradict or completely throw out their beliefs or they change them to fit their own little paradigm of how things are supposed to be so their findings fit neatly into their own views. Tesla was considered a crackpot by many in his time but look at all the stuff he left us with that we take for granted today. If he was such a crackpot I wonder why the government couldn't wait to confiscate all his research and equipment after he died??

Anyone daring to step outside the box deserves some praise now and then IMO. A large percentage of these types are whack jobs sure enough but every now and then someone touches on something that resonates with people enough to wake them up even if it must first shake them up in order to do that. Another of my favorite books is Forbidden Archaeology by Michael Cremo. Its a huge book but its chalk full of things that don't fit in the theories held by most academics so rather than categorize it and deal with it they tuck it away time after time.

STR

 

[Wolf_1989]

Another good show is The Pyramid Code series on the DOC channel.

:thumbup:

Von Daniken is entertaining to read but IMO Zecharia Sitchin goes into details Von Daniken never even touched. The one bit I disagree with re: Sitchin is the concept of Nibiru; a planet with a wide elliptical orbit which takes it out beyond Pluto. He claims the ancient Sumerian texts say the Annunaki came from Nibiru to obtain gold from Earth for some application for shielding their dissipating atmosphere. We just so happen to have a next door neighbor which once had flowing water and an atmosphere which was lost long ago: Mars. And oddly enough Mars has a lot of strange anomalous features folks ponder over. If Sitchin is (mostly) correct I think "Nibiru" is most likely Mars.

 

[DannyinJapan]

This is in no way meant as a criticism Wolf, but let me explain why I think the "search for elements" is not really probable.

NASA requires 4 redundant systems for every system on a spacecraft. Why? Well, if something important fails up there, you are dead. 4 redundancies creates a situation where the odds of all 4 going out are virtually impossible.
When you leave home and go out into space, you have three options:
1. You can take fuel and spare parts with you.
2. You can make your own with raw materials you find somewhere else.
3. You can slowly die in the void.

Carrying spares and fuel is not very efficient, but necessary for conventional craft.
I believe, based on the evidence and our own man-made technology, that visitors make their own spares from raw materials they find on other planets.

Your average bucket of seawater contains a plethora of useful elements, you only need to extract them. Until recently, the process of extracting certain isotopes from raw material was a large, slow process. (This was the major limitation for the Manhattan project and the current issue in Iran - How do you get sufficient quantities of a specific isotope from raw materials?)

They used to filter a gas made from ore, then they used plasma separation, but NOW they use a machine that is very similar to something described in some early reports about Aliens: A ray gun.
It's a big ray gun, but the efficiency is generations ahead of all the old methods. It's called AVLIS (atomic vapor laser isotope separation).

With it, you can separate ANY element or isotope you want from common seawater, ice or even sand. Imagine such a system after 200 years of refinement and miniaturization..500 years..

For UFO evidence of this possibility, please refer to the Bob White 1985 artifact and the Denmark 1940 (?) artifact. They are both made of Aluminum with silicon microspheres and strontium, which is not a naturally occurring alloy.

 

[Wolf_1989]

In Sitchin's first book he said the first Annunaki expedition was indeed extracting gold from seawater.

 

[not2sharp]

...lastly, consider this. We often assume ancient cultures were primitive.

...

This is a very interesting question, and one which we frequently confront whenever we assume that our ancestors, such as our 19th century pioneers, used crudely fashioned knives. On a larger scale we know that Western Civilization lost at least 1000 years of technological progress, from the fall of the Roman Empire through the renaissance. Perhaps, there were earlier period when technology was lost.

"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World
War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
-- Albert Einstein

Who's is to say that we haven't already fought the equivalent of a WW III, at some distant point in our past? The belief that we are at the apex of civilization may yet prove to be more a matter of arrogance then fact.

n2s

 

[STR]

...

This is a very interesting question, and one which we frequently confront whenever we assume that our ancestors, such as our 19th century pioneers, used crudely fashioned knives. On a larger scale we know that Western Civilization lost at least 1000 years of technological progress, from the fall of the Roman Empire through the renaissance. Perhaps, there were earlier period when technology was lost.

"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World
War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
-- Albert Einstein

Who's is to say that we haven't already fought the equivalent of a WW III, at some distant point in our past? The belief that we are at the apex of civilization may yet prove to be more a matter of arrogance then fact.

n2s

Well, we do know from the DNA record that at some point in the past something happened to bottle neck the human races genetic diversity to what it is today. It is very possible that a civilization before the cataclysm was more advanced than we are now and that they are indeed set up in various bases around the world, probably under water to depths we could not even go to. Navy ship sonar has detected super sonic metalic "USO" crafts at great depths in the ocean for some time according to some of these shows mentioned and others. I don't doubt for a moment that we all suffer from that mass amnesia I mentioned earlier. Thats why we can't recall farther back than a few thousand years. I have a feeling that somewhere someone knows the truth though. I'd like to hear about that truth before I leave this planet.

STR

 

[Yvsa]

I'm almost envious of all you younger guys that still have 99.4% or more of y'alls mental facilities and that can remember - and recall - peoples name's, as well as when and what happened at a given time or at least close to it. At this time in my life all I can be is interested, but I guess there are a few areas you younger guys can be envious of me as well..... or not.

When I first read Von Daniken's book, "Chariots of the Gods" so many years ago I was totally enthralled because he was answering questions, some, that I had pondered over for a mighty long time and answering them in a way that made perfectly good sense..... Also Von Daniken was bringing up points about things I had never considered before nor that I had ever seen before such as the very small gold artifacts that were purported to be insects but looked like some sort of aircraft..... I also inhaled Von Daniken's next book and maybe the next one, or maybe just a part of it and I noticed that, to me anyway, he was repeating himself. After I read Von Daniken's next book out I pretty much dismissed him from that point on as being in it for the money as he had became quite the prolific author!!!! I am glad that since that rocky time Von Daniken has seemingly, to me anyway, settled down and no longer seems so hell bent on making a dollar but instead seems to be focusing on the, "What Ifs" once again....:thumbup:

That didn't sour my interest in so many, to me, unexplained anomaly's and I kept pursuing my interest in UFO's and mysterious archaeological artifacts where ever and however I could.

Another most baffling anomaly besides such things as the flatness almost polished appearance of the stone work at Puma Punku as well as the intricate precision machine work displayed on this stone..... http://members.tripod.com/~kon_artz/cultures/ppgroove.jpg is where is the evidence of the machine tools themselves? Such machine tools would out of necessity have to be of a sufficient size and weight in order to provide a stable and accurate platform for the machining of stones of this size and weight!!!! Consequently I would think that there would be some evidence of such machine tools being left behind even if it were large deposits of soil overly rich in some kind of iron compound with trace elements of alloying material.....
And as with everything else such machine tools would need equally large buildings to house them out of the elements I would think because each local environment has its own detriments to be protected from.....
One such detriment that's often overlooked is temperature. As a machined part warms up or cools down its dimensions will either expand or contract which can cause real problems with assembly if they're high precision parts.....
With that it doesn't matter which side of the fence you're on, there are still a lot of things left unexplained.

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[greenwoods]

Extraterrestrial Civilizations, By Issac Asimov is a favorite re-read for me.

It covers a lot of the science, math and statistical thinking regarding this subject.

IMO, the idea that if they are in any way similar to us, physiologically, that they would travel in a continually developing and, to us, recognizable colony. Which could lead them to being colonizers, traders and/ or marauders.

I'm gonna need some bigger Khuks!


Mark

 

[warty]

Well, I suppose out of all the opinions thus far expressed, mine is closest to that of gravertom's. I believe in the Lord God Creator of all things and His Son, the Christ Jesus my Savior. This is not something I think is true, it is something I am certain of deep down in my bones. All the little arguments of why Creation and the Flood couldn't/didn't happen as the Bible said it did are simply due to the fact that we have a completely different viewpoint of things, especially time, from the One who inspired the Book. Consider the recent discovery of the shape and make up of the protien Laminin, which can be seen by following this link: http://www.omegaletter.com/images/articles/2010/laminin1.bmp For me I see this as a Signature of the Creator, His Signet on His Creation, life. Laminin essentially “glues” the cells (such as those lining the stomach and intestines) to a foundation of connective tissue. This keeps the cells in place and allows them to function properly. Without laminin your cells would fall apart. The structure of laminin is very important for its function. Science is constantly finding little hints like these and instead of seeing them with an actually open mind, they have an immediate, knee jerk reaction that things like this are mere cooincidence or have "other, as yet unknown" explanations. This viewpoint is reserved for the Jewish/Christian God alone and is most directed towards the Christian viewpoint specifically.

I think this is done because the more they learn about the universe and math, the more they see the Hand of God behind things and it bothers them. But I think I am getting a bit off track so I apologize and will address the matter at hand...

Is it possible that Aliens have interacted with us or are interacting with us now? I honestly do not see any reaons why this can't happen. God didn't say He only created humans when it comes to intelligent life in the universe anywhere in the Bible. So nly He really knows how many other civilizations, if any, exist. What I am sure of is that these other possible visitors would only have been here and only have interacted with us at His suffereance and according to His Will and Plan. At some other time I would be happy to explain how Free Will and God's Plan can co-exist without contradiction should anyone be interested.

 

[Nicholas]

Here's a thought that just occurred to me this morning: what does the story MEAN?

My take on religious scripture (raised a freethinker, by the way, just to establish the context) was that it was the moral or spiritual meaning of the stories that were important, not the literal truth of the matter. I always thought that arguments over the literal truth of the Bible were a distraction, really, if you really wanted to live by a set of principles. (I lean towards Greco-Roman mythology, myself, which has long adopted this perspective.)
So, if we're going to entertain ideas about Ancient Astronauts, literally or figuratively, the real question is: why? What does the story say to us, that either inspires or offends....or both?

For me, the "pro" side of the argument is emotional, in that it offers an end to a feeling of being alone in the universe, by theorizing a more complicated view of what's out there, and incorporating us INTO it. It offers the view of our existence as part of a greater adventure in the cosmos, potentially at our fingers at any moment. And at the very least, it offers an additional wrinkle into the study of history, a great pleasure for those of us who like to think, and to reconcile the complicated threads of our timeline. it certainly offers some story-writing possibilities!
On the "con" side, is that these theories can be used to undo those very same goals, by oversimplifying everything to alien contact, and by taking on an unquestioning, even religious aspect that, for me, brings us back to square one. In particular, these theories are sometimes used to downplay human potential, a very depressing and dispiriting viewpoint.
My problem is, that I haven't been able to embrace the pros in a way that avoids the cons, so I remain on the fence. I'm always a bit thrilled by these tales, enough that I can't help but read them, and speculate. But I can't find a perspective on them that's completely satisfactory, a meaning to the story that truly fulfills me. So, I can't fully sign on.

But what does it mean to YOU?

 

[DannyinJapan]

I don't believe that alien contact has had THAT much influence, per se. I think encounters were simply added to important texts because of the profound effect such events would have had on the writers.
I do not believe the ancient Indians had flying saucers. I think they saw some and then, when writing about rulers or gods, they added what they saw to the story. In effect, they are telling us two stories.

Imagine finding a stone-age tribe in the South Pacific who pray to their gods to bring them a bounty. Their gods looking just like B-17's and the "bounty from heaven" being a resupply container on a parachute. (which did happen, we call them Cargo Cults) Imagine how this would look in 1,000 years.