[troutman]

Technology Worship and Human Debasement in Erich von Däniken’s ‘Chariots of the Gods?’
https://wearethemutants.com/2017/02/...s-of-the-gods/

The entirety of Däniken’s proof that ancient aliens have visited the human race rests on his belittlement of the “primitive peoples” and “savages” who he says “could not have produced” elaborate wall paintings, architectural marvels, accurate calendars, accurate maps, and imaginative religious literature on their own.

The implication, at the very least, is that pre-modern European races were perfectly capable of developing a unique culture without otherworldly assistance. Their innate intelligence is unquestioned. “Jungle people,” on the other hand…

For all of that, there is a lingering appeal to the ancient alien hypothesis that I can understand, that I’ve harbored since my first viewing, as a child, of the Serling-narrated In Search of Ancient Astronauts. It mythologizes and sanctifies our cosmic curiosity, our yearning for poetic magic in a time of corporate science and corporate religion; and, unlike the strictures of those embedded institutions, it offers us the power to become as gods. Däniken’s repackaged messianic myth is very much an occult doctrine in that way, but married to the materialist mindset voiced by Arthur C. Clarke’s dictum that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Alas, the cult of Däniken is the dream of a child who wants to be grown up all at once, without having to climb the long and painful path that becomes, when one no longer wants anything to do with it, adulthood. It’s entirely possible that somewhere among the stars is a species capable of both the technological miracles that Däniken worships and the benevolence and wisdom that he dismisses. Maybe in the fullness of time, when we stop acting on the primitive impulses that drive Chariots of the Gods?, we’ll be worthy of them—and worthy of ourselves.