Note: This article was cited into the New York Times (July 22, 2018) as an counter that is intellectual the emerging religion of “Ancient Aliens.”

In the book The Grand Design (2012), Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow claimed that “philosophy is dead” (p. 5). They wrote: “We exist but for a few days, plus in that time explore but a little the main whole universe. But humans are a curious species. We wonder, we seek answers. Living in this world that is vast is by turns kind and cruel, and gazing during the immense heavens above, people have always asked a variety of questions: How can we understand the world by which we find ourselves? So how exactly does the universe behave? What is the nature of reality? Where d > philosophy is dead. Philosophy have not kept up with modern developments in science, particularly physics.” (p. 5).

Needless to say, philosophy is still alive in academic journals, Amazon books, therefore the philosophy that is shrinking at the Barnes & Noble bookstores. But, as a force in popular culture, essay writing service contemporary philosophy is largely dead, primarily given that it has neglected to carry on with aided by the discoveries in contemporary cosmology. When you look at the wake of the stunning achievements for the Apollo program plus the Hubble Space Telescope (just two examples), philosophy has neglected to generate a favorite cosmic narrative that integrates the origins and destinies regarding the human species into the vast and wondrous cosmos—an expanding universe stretching across 100 billion light years and populated with 2 trillion galaxies and untold variety of stars, planets, lifeforms, and black holes. This death began with the crash of Apollo 8 and Earthrise.

This cosmic and failure that is philosophical ev >2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Interstellar (2014), Hollywood populates the expanding universe with endless monsters (ex: the Alien series) and apocalyptic warfare (ex: Star Wars), complimented by hardly any awe, wonder, and discovery. The Star that is recent Trek are not too different from Star Wars. Here we have been fifty years after Apollo and thirty years following the Hubble telescope, as well as the dominant ideologies will always be based in cosmic narcissism and super-specialness—pretending that is human function as the center of the universe or under the delusion that a Creator or Ancient Aliens are searching out for us.

The hit television series Ancient Aliens (2010-) has hijacked the cosmic narratives from Apollo and 2001 and claims to explain humanity’s origins and destiny in the universe in the absence of a meaningful space philosophy. In Ancient Aliens, we could see philosophy’s mediated corpse, where an attempted space philosophy and cosmic narrative have crashed and tend to be still aflame in the usa from the History Channel.

Two Val >The ancient-astronaut theory draws upon two val > may have developed space travel technologies that enable them to traverse the great distances with relative ease. at the very least that’s the “wormhole” scenario depicted in Contact (1997) and Interstellar (2014) . That sa we have been visited, precisely because the distances are so vast, the universe is so gigantic, and our planet is so tiny > it is highly unlikely.

Yet, such a possibility (however slim) is the one reason why 2001 offers such a vision that is compelling of origins and destinies. Most likely, it might be an moment that is epochal find a black monolith somewhere on the planet or even the moon, beaming out a radio signal to an alert and curious species. Such a possibility is very appealing to me, at the very least the theory is that. As the astronaut Taylor says in Planet regarding the Apes, “Out there, there must be something much better than man. Has to be.” Needless to say, if ancient astronauts have visited Earth, they might have possessed technologies that are extremely advanced been viewed as gods, angels, and miracle makers by premodern humans. Just like the apes in 2001, the humans will have looked upon the technologies with fear and amazement. But have any ancient astronauts actually visited Earth?

Where’s the monolith that is black?

Where’s roughly the same as the black monolith in 2001 — that single artifact of indisputable extraterrestrial design or origin? Where is the verifiable evidence that ancient astronauts or extraterrestrials visited our world to enlighten our species, perform great deeds, and guide our art, technology, and architecture? It’s possible some might be way more advanced and enlightened than our species, I am open to actual empirical evidence since I think extraterrestrial life forms surely exist and. Unfortunately, all of the ancient-astronaut theorists can point toward is a few mysterious artifacts, none of which is often attached to visitations that are extraterrestrial.

Where would be the “Chariots associated with Gods”?

In my youth, I watched reruns or VHS tapes of 2001 and Planet associated with the Apes times that are many along with many other science-fiction films. I also recall viewing reruns of Chariots of the Gods and Mysteries for the Gods, which aired in the television station that is local. The shows are now available on YouTube, and my recent viewings confirmed almost all of my original memories of those. Both films clearly attempted to connect ancient astronauts to Apollo and space exploration, with all the Voyager space probe and starship Enterprise appearing early in Mysteries of the Gods. Viewing the above films in my youth inspired us to read Chariots of this Gods?, readily available at that time in local bookstores. I viewed the films and browse the book with rapt attention, precisely because von Daniken appeared to be providing “evidence” for a human narrative that was section of a larger celestial narrative away from theism that prevailed in Texas, where I was born and spent my youth (in a largely secular household). Initially, this thesis was quite attractive and did actually reflect an alternative model for human origins and possible destinies. It appeared like a attack that is plausible the cultural and historical orthodoxy regarding the age, especially the pre-Copernican ideologies associated with the proselytizing evangelicals within my suburb.

Upon later reflection, however, I found myself questioning the logic of the book’s assertions and came to realize that von Daniken’s “ancient-astronaut” thesis was deeply mistaken. The book’s flaws were exposed in a 1976 Skeptical Inquirer article along with a book entitled The Space Gods Revealed that featured a forward by none apart from Carl Sagan.1 By 1977, Chariot of the Gods? was debunked in a BBC-PBS production of Nova in an episode called “The Case associated with the Ancient Astronauts.”2 The episode refuted the next claims: a picture of an ancient astronaut was carved on a Mayan sarcophagus, the Nazca Lines in Peru were originally an ancient-astronaut spaceport, ancient astronauts inspired various carvings on Peruvian stones, and ancient astronauts built the pyramids in Egypt while the Moai statues on Easter Island.

The above assertions are among the most ludicrous and illogical interpretations of human artifacts produced by the theorists that are ancient-astronaut and all sorts of are wholly unproven. In several ways, the series is an attack on logic, rationality, additionally the nature of ev >Ancient Aliens has been on tv for seven seasons suggests you will find sizable audiences that are quite gullible, struggling to think logically, and scientifically illiterate. Plus, you will find irresponsible and intellectually bankrupt television programmers, but that is nothing new either.

In the wake regarding the Trump pres >Chariots regarding the Gods? and Ancient Aliens, almost all of this ev that is so-called be solved.

Virtually all the claims of extraterrestrial influence made on Ancient Aliens assume that human consciousness and civilization don’t have a lot of creativity, originality, or capacity to innovate. The idea that is general that, without assistance from the ancient astronauts, humans will be helpless and may never build such great structures or make profound scientific discoveries. Plus, the show assumes there is no available room for chance, surprise, emergence, singularities, or any of the insights of chaos and complexity theory. In the long run, the series represents an assault on rationality and scientific methods, not unlike all the other paranormal movies and tv shows.