this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2024
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Star Trek is attention grabbing. It doesn't mean we should depend on time travel to save the whales. Not being able to separate fantasy from reality is not a scientific viewpoint. Actual education about any of this would be steering away from it, not into it.
The answer to all questions about advanced ancient civilizations existing is "probably not". There are interesting examples that push back the earliest evidence of some things, like the Antikythera mechanism, but the only thing that is evidence of is that gears are older than previously thought. "Could there have been an ancient globe spanning civilization that only used wood or was on Antarctica or for some other reason has surviving no evidence?" is the same level of question as "Could there be a Discworld?". The infeasibility of proving a negative is not the same as "yes this existed".
Ancient Aliens level speculation on ancient civilizations is religion without a sacred text, inventing fantasies of a utopian past out of whole cloth because of an imagined fragment of a thread.
Star Trek is a great example of what I'm talking about actually. How many legitimate scientists do you think are out there right now who either had their interest in science first sparked by or at least significantly influenced from watching some version of Star Trek? I would bet it is a lot of them. Not every concept in Star Trek is worth diving into from a scientific perspective but not trying to do that at all would be a huge mistake.
Now, Graham Hancock isn't writing Star Trek but people listen to what he's saying for the same basic reasons they watch Star Trek. They are curious about a science based approach to the world. They don't know he's exaggerating some things and taking other things out of context. Use the opportunity to teach them.
In other words, don't call them idiots for watching Star Trek, start a conversation about space travel.
You are describing Indiana Jones. Graham is talking about getting funding for what is effectively Crystal Skull research. These are not opposing sides of the same coin. Ancient Apocalypse is not an outreach program for more general archeology funding.
This is not about calling the people watching the show idiots. It's about Graham and his ilk being more beholden to their pet stories than actual research and trying to convince people that they are the One True Archeologist.
A conspiracy theorist complaining about how "the establishment" won't take him seriously is not a gateway to people seeking out education. It's an avenue for those people to mistrust actual research in a field because it doesn't mesh with their preconceived notions. Much like Flat Earthers the problem is not a simple misunderstanding that will self correct. It's a belief that the "Truth" is being hidden for nefarious purposes because a story is more intriguing than knowledge.
This is not how people get more interested in Archeology, or whatever discipline, or what drives funding for that discipline. This is what cuts budgets and drives people away because "the establishment is a hidebound in-crowd."