Canny netflix series on now about his ancient civilisation theory, and apocalyspe. Definitely compelling evidence academics wont listen to. Also some dubious shoehorning of what he finds into his theory.
Canny netflix series on now about his ancient civilisation theory, and apocalyspe. Definitely compelling evidence academics wont listen to. Also some dubious shoehorning of what he finds into his theory.
An alternative conspiracy theory wrapped in this one could be his son working for netflix as a series commiasioner
Anyway, I enjoyed it, and there I am pretty sure academics dont have it all tucked away nicely.
In my experience, the people who believe these things are, without exception, the less intelligent people I know. People who struggled through school in the lowest sets and never quite "got it".
They simply want to believe that, this time, they are smarter than everyone else and they're the ones who have "figured it out"... by watching a couple of YouTube videos. The truth is, these people are of far below average intelligence, and really should listen to the scientists, doctors, etc. who were born much smarter than them and dedicated their lives to become experts in their chosen field.
I'm an archaeologist. The thing about Hancock's theories is, if he was right, there would be no reason to suppress the truth. The idea that individuals from some advanced civilisation were wondering the earth and teaching hunter-gatherers about monumental architecture and stuff is too fanciful. Plus, it denies that people were capable of innovation in their own right. There is no evidence of his advanced civilisation and I know of nothing that could completely obliterate evidence for a settlement of the magnitude that would be talking about to the extent that it couldn't be identified. Even if all were talking about as evidence was levels of phosphates in the soil.
One of the most interesting things I've seen in recent years (but have since seen nothing further of) was some archaeobotanical and environmental archaeology done via deep core drilling that suggested that at least part of the Arabian Peninsular was lushly vegetated and supported dense forest with an abundance of animal life. One theory linked this to the dawn of agriculture in the fertile crescent (i.e. the hunter-gatherer inhabitants of this forest had to move further north where pressure on resources was greater and they had to find new ways to survive). Things like the antithykera mechanism are quite interesting too.I love all this stuff - what should I be looking for?
I think the thing with Hancock is his personality has been an issue - he can come across as a right smarmy prick and he's had a lot of high profile falling outs with prominent archaeologists. Especially the Egyptian bloke over the age of the monuments there. I can completely understand the reaction of people whose life's work may be under threat and it's good to see one or two younger people at least engaging with him to prove or disprove his theories. I think he's due to debate a guy on Rogan at some point this year, that'll be worth listening to. It's good to see some movement on it.
Are you up to anything exotic yourself? I see plenty of archaeological reports up here as part of my new job. Mainly 'no you can't put a bloody great wind turbine here'
I think the problem is more to do with saying that these populations weren't capable of developing agriculture, monumental architecture, trade exchange economies etc without any kind of outside help. It assumes that people were living in ignorant, semi-bestial states but even the limited evidence for Palaeolithic and Mesolithic hunter-gatherer groups shows that they were capable of complex thought and problem solving (some of the stone tools they made are incredible- hold an acheulean hand axe and it's amazing; fits perfectly in your palm, perfectly weighted, it makes you want to start chopping stuff up. And Mesolthic composite tools are beautiful, a range of different devices made from small, geometrical blades of flint. And Clovis Points in N America, sometimes said to be for Mammoth hunting). From there, its not hard to appreciate how they could develop more complex ideas and solutions, eventually leading to monumental architecture and all those other things.Yes the racism accusation is a fairly recent stick they're trying to beat him with. I can't recall him ever mentioning a colour for these 'great civilizers'. Personally I think it's far more likely that any ice age advanced seafaring civilisation that might have been taken out by rising sea levels would have been black rather than white. The honkies were too busy fighting sabre tooth tigers on the tundra or something
It could be worse - some people think aliens did it.
Must have been some size to be seen like that you would think. I’m going for alien vortex
Canny netflix series on now about his ancient civilisation theory, and apocalyspe. Definitely compelling evidence academics wont listen to. Also some dubious shoehorning of what he finds into his theory.
An alternative conspiracy theory wrapped in this one could be his son working for netflix as a series commiasioner
Anyway, I enjoyed it, and there I am pretty sure academics dont have it all tucked away nicely.
Billionaire Bill Gates has said he would rather pay for vaccines than travelling to Mars, which he does not think is a good use of money.
"It's actually quite expensive to go to Mars. You can buy measles vaccines and save lives for $1,000 (£814) per life saved," he told the BBC.
"And so [that] just kind of grounds you, as in - don't go to Mars."
The Microsoft co-founder also believes artificial intelligence will "pretty dramatically" transform humanity.
He said: "It will help us look into medical and scientific questions. It's not just robots, it's helping to read and write as well.
"In fact, there's been more progress there than on the robotic side. Both of them will give us much higher productivity."
'Boogeyman'
Mr Gates also spoke of his surprise at becoming the face of conspiracy theories during the Covid-19 pandemic.
"I did not expect that," he said, referring to suggestions he profited from the virus, or started it himself.
"During the pandemic, there were tens of millions of messages that I intentionally caused it, or I'm tracking people. It's true I'm involved with vaccines, but I'm involved with vaccines to save lives.
"These messages sort of inverted that. I guess people are looking for the 'boogeyman' behind the curtain, the over-simplistic explanation. Malevolence is a lot easier to understand than biology."
Mr Gates also spoke about how he, like many other philanthropists, met sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein.
"I'm certainly more careful now than back when I did that. I'll do a little more due diligence. I may make a mistake again. I'm out in the world and I'm not trying to be a recluse."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-64499635
Conspiracy theorists think that he's a bad person
