Erich von Däniken (who passed away two days ago) actually had a YouTube channel. It´s still up, also containing a lot of non-Däniken material from the new agey streaming service Gaia. The above video was posted recently in December, but surely Däniken looks younger than 90 years old here?
Däniken´s books feels "so 1970´s" and I´m still surprised that he managed to survive into the 2020´s. Not the man himself, but his ideas. Personally, I´ve always seen him as a fossil from a much simpler time when everything seemed possible and every alternative idea looked somehow legit. I suppose Däniken managed to rebrand himself for the American market - which is considerable - and off it went. Yes, that would be "Ancient Aliens". And, I suppose, the Gaia streaming service.
I admit that I intensely dislike the idea of ancient astronauts visiting Earth. It´s almost ugly. You have to be a complete ignoramus to take this seriously. "If a Stone Age petroglyph looks like an astronaut in my subjective rendering, it must *be* an astronaut. QED". That´s the take. Even for 1970-ish counter-culture, this is breathtakingly naive.
At the same time, it´s fascinating how Däniken and other Schwärmers of this type simultaneously both dis-enchant and re-enchant the world. On one level, speculations about ancient aliens are atheist, since they suggest that the "gods" were really physical space aliens in nuts-and-bolts craft. Nothing supernatural to see here! But on another level, Däniken also creates a new mythological narrative. After all, nobody can see the aliens and only a select few believe in their existence. Science denies knowledge. Is it a conspiracy? In the clip above, Däniken even calls the aliens "teachers", a term many New Age believers will probably associate with "Ascended Masters".
It´s this new crypto-mythology which many people find so endearing. The seemingly atheist message subtly becomes a new religion. Erich von Däniken was it´s prophet and chief evangelizer.
As long as humans will send shit into orbit, that long Däniken´s crypto-religion will survive. In other words: probably not for another 90 years.
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