Did aliens really visit us in the past?

So I'm stuck watching "Ancient Aliens" today for reasons that doesn't deserve to be mentioned. Boredom has sat in an long time ago. I feel that the show is an bit one-sided in converting history/religion/famous monuments into "Our extraterrestrial observers coerced us into doing it." I don't really know enough about the various theories that's surrounding it; but I feel that asking an open question, saying that ancient art vaguely resembles an space suit, or that technological advancements didn't exist back then, and not providing any opposition to your theories doesn't feel right to me.

But given how often aliens have shown up in entertainment and how large the universe is, I figured that something might be out there or that Hollywood is ruining science again. But I figured that this might be an good topic since I can't be the only one on here who's into speculative science.

My mom's an art and art history teacher, and she's pointed out to me several times that all the mistakes from all those mega structures got thrown in the trash heaps. Trash heaps which tend to be places that modern archeologists and historians love to find, because they can find out a lot about a culture from them.

Basically they're talking out of their asses and hoping people don't notice the massive holes in their arguments.

No.

Not because aliens don't exist but because the History Channel will gleefully sacrifice history to make a buck.

Also, you'd think they'd visit us today.

One might also consider the racist implications of claiming that things like the pyramids were due to alien influence. As if the Egyptians were somehow too stupid to figure it out on their own.

You don't believe Stonehedge was built by aliens?

I mean, let's be honest, white people can't make such advanced structures.

edited 25th May '18 10:41:59 PM by CharlesPhipps

I never understood why Stonehenge gets so much attention. It's hardly the only megalithic structures in the British Isles.

The only reason we don't know much of anything about it is because the people at that time didn't write anything down. Because writing wasn't a thing then. It wouldn't be a thing there until 2000 years or so after Stonehenge was built.

Personally i think the real reason Stonehenge was built was because the people at that time thought big ol' stone circles looked cool.

edited 25th May '18 10:45:38 PM by M84

It's an alien landing platform!

I'd imagine that some belief in aliens stem from an existential loneliness. The idea that Life (sapient or otherwise) begins and end with the Earth. There being extraterrestrial life would mean that it wouldn't be the case and that life itself would continue without it. Which might serve as an issue for complacent or environmentally reckless people.

Frankly I'm rather glad to not have visitors from the stars. Them being able to visit us in the first place would mean they're probably somewhat more advanced than we are.

And historically, that kind of situation hasn't worked out so well for the less advanced people.

If space aliens visited us in the past, then they meticulously and scrupulously respected the protocol for pre-space travel cultures, and left no trace of their passage.

They probably have the technology… Or else it would’ve been some roadside picnic.

edited 26th May '18 3:22:56 AM by AlityrosThePhilosopher

This, in the hypothetical situation that aliens were to visit us or discover us if they think anything like us then we would likely either end up as slaves to them after an war or as lab rats.

They would be much more advanced than us obviously which would heavily tip such a hypothetical situation into their favor.

And yes, a lot of informational channels such as History Channel or Discovery Channel are sadly on the clickbait spiral (only for TV obviously) where they try to catch people's attention via funding shows or episodes of shows for absurd topics. A lot of the stupid reality shows that had nothing to do with subject taking over those channels killed them off for me.

Mind you, any society that reaches the stars is probably one which has devoted some effort to cleaning up its shit.

We're making some slow inroads there to not destroying ourselves and treating everyone like people.

So it's very likely aliens will be a lot nicer than us.

"For the Greater Good, human, you will join our group!"

"AH! KILL IT! DESTROY THE XENO!"

Or they are channeling all of their aggression in a crusade to wipe out the rest of the universe.

Philosophy has a lot of interesting interpretations on the subject of aliens. For example, it's speculated that the reason why we haven't met intelligent aliens yet is because they are too busy doing something else. Waging war against each other, they killed themselves off, they are even less than advanced then us, and so on and so on.

It would be pretty depressing if we were to find out that the reason we haven't met another alien civilization yet is because they killed themselves with superweapons they pointed at each other or something else killed them. Humans like to think we aren't the only intelligent species out in this universe and that would kill off that hope and bring into question on why intelligent beings use helpful technology to kill each other.

Of course that is a very cynical theory. It could be very possible that we are just too far away from another civilization of sapients or that they just left us alone to our own devices to see where our species might go. Another hopeful interpetation I have seen is that aliens are just waiting for us to really advance our space travel enough to venture across the stars so they can properly bring us into the fold.

edited 26th May '18 4:31:29 AM by Wispy

Regardless, I for one do not believe aliens visited us in the past or had any major impact on us. Our accomplishments and our failings are our own.

If aliens really had visited us in the past we'd have concrete evidence by now,or they would have visited again

Either no,they haven't

But on another planet far far away someone is asking the same question "How come those humans never come and visit?They've surly reached the space age by now!"

I always like the more humorous explanation that the reason we haven't contacted aliens yet is because aliens took a look at us and said

Fuck no, those guys are far too weird.

Or the explanation that aliens are scared of us because our rather...vivid imaginations.

edited 26th May '18 4:48:20 AM by Wispy

From the website Atomic Rocket:

In a cosmic time-frame, Mankind's entire existence happens in the blink of an eye, relatively speaking. The likelihood of two separate civilizations developing on separate planets, but at approximately the same time and at the same rate, is so remote that it's unlikely we'll ever make direct contact with aliens as is often depicted in popular media. It is far more likely that we'll discover the ruins of their civilization ages afterwards, or intercept an ancient radio broadcast that's been radiating through the universe for eons — Or, conversely, that they will find similar evidence of us long after we're gone.

Not a comforting thought, I admit. The truth can be unpleasant, but that doesn't make it any less true.

edited 26th May '18 5:18:27 AM by pwiegle

@Morning Star: Believing aliens have visited us in the past and thinking there is extraterrestrial life out there are two completely different things. I believe in aliens not because of existential loneliness, but because it's almost a mathematical impossibility, with so many planets, that not one besides Earth could sustain life in any form.

To add onto what was mentioned above, those specials usually use the pyramids as evidence of alien activity because the pyramids supposedly came out of nowhere.

That’s not true. There are dozens of prototype or early-style pyramids littering Egypt, like the bent pyramid [1] and the various step pyramids.

The universe isn't actually expanding, it just looks that way because everyone is running away from us. Except the guys in Andromeda, who are trying to pull off a very slow heroic sacrifice.

Might have posted this before, but it felt relevant here.

Well, it's always nice to see that RationalWiki is worth more than an good laugh and that I need to find something better to watch on tv. And that our ancestors were perfectly capable of taking up an career in advanced civil engineering (Just look at the ancient Roman Empire).

But what do you guys think about aliens replacing mythology? Surely that an minotaur and that guy with an jackal's head must be an metaphor for someone who was unusually strong or fierce and a vigilant soldier who starved to death while guarding someone's grave...Or that they're results of an alien crossbreeding experiment. Which is saying that we had no sense of imagination.

Aliens always have reemplaced mythology. The only actual difference between a politheistic deity and a Super Powerful Reality Warper alien is just your personal worldview.

And the guys with animal heads? People probably imagined them like that.

edited 26th May '18 10:38:49 AM by KazuyaProta

The Fermi Paradox causes me to doubt the existence of technologically advanced aliens in our galaxy. The universe is ancient enough that the galaxy would have been turned to Dyson Swarms a dozen times over by now.

Another possibility is that spaceflight-capable aliens do exist, but we will never meet them because faster-than-light travel is impossible.

My interest in space exploration is pretty close to nil unless someone manages to disprove the theory of relativity.

edited 26th May '18 11:40:36 AM by Galadriel