What is your opinion of ancient astronaut theories

I find them to be a little odd...

These History Channel specials on "Ancient Aliens" are killing me. Have you ever noticed that the modern "evidence" is generally central to a culture very different from that of the usual viewer, and is incredibly vague? Then that evidence suddenly leads to a non-sequitur, nonsensical, very specific conclusion?

For instance, one episode discussed a forest in Japan where a large number of people have migrated to commit suicide for centuries. This, of course, is something foreign to the American audience, which lives in a culture that doesn't accept suicide as readily as the Japanese, and which lacks deep-seated historical contexts for behavior like the Japanese.

So, because people commit suicide in these woods, and because that's strange to us, that must mean that there's an inter-dimensional portal to another plane of existence from where aliens communicate with the more spiritual individuals on Earth.

No. I find these "theories" quite unbelievable. It's all fed by the hysteria of our millenarian age. People concerned with the 2012 predictions will grasp at anything, and these shows appeal to those same audiences.

They were a product of the psychedelic sixties when people were on all manner of substances, and their ability to assimilate logical data and reject sheer nonsense was compromised.

Also the sixties was the height of the "space age". So what else would you expect to be used to sell books than the idea that "astronauts" played around with your ancestors as well as your moon.

Needless to say, those with a bit of sense readily see through all that ancient asstronauts BS with ease. Looking through old drawings and carvings to find what you set out to look for is no different to staring at a piece of wood until you see faces in the grain.

The effect is called pareidolia: