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Alien DNA in the Cosmic Log

It’s no secret that I think MSNBC editor Alan Boyle’s Cosmic Log is a great blog, and here’s more proof why. Alan posts plenty of fascinating, ‘hard science’ stories, but he’s also not afraid to explore the outer fringes as well. Case in point: yesterday’s interview with Zecharia Sitchin about his new book There Were Giants Upon the Earth (Amazon US and UK:

The 90-year-old Sitchin was born in the Soviet Union, grew up in Palestine and now lives in a New York apartment. He has written 14 books about way-out subjects, starting out with claims that a “12th planet” named Nibiru swung past Earth thousands of years ago and dropped off alien visitors who were looked upon as gods by Middle Eastern cultures. Sitchin says these aliens were the Annunaki mentioned in Sumerian scriptures, and the Nephilim mentioned in the Bible.

Needless to say, Sitchin’s ideas – like those of another ancient-astronaut author, Erich von Däniken – have been roundly scorned by the scientific community. But now Sitchin is asking that very community to help him with the mystery of Queen Puabi.

Alan treats Sitchin and the topic with plenty of respect, despite not believing “any of Sitchin’s tales about alien astronauts or ancient demigods from the planet Nibiru”. Plenty of comments following the story too – quite an inflammatory topic it seems.

Editor
  1. Star seeds
    There’s a bunch of material that implies we had some kind of ‘up-lift’ about 10k years back, from some of our ‘elder brothers’ from space. Certainly that is what The Urantia Books says—they sent down a kind of planetary ‘adam & eve’ to provide a boost in our evolution.

    1. The boost busted!
      I’ve followed the Urantia material, mainly through the use of it by J.J. Benítez in his books and novels.

      It’s pretty wild. The level of bureaucracy the Universe seems to need would be horrifying for all those people in favor of “small government” *nudge* *nudge* 😉

      Even Vallee mentions it on his book Messengers of Deception. His conclusion seems to be that he does not dismiss the unexplainable origin of the material; but he definitely questions the validity of the content, and its purpose… as should we all IMO.

  2. I don’t know where I sit on
    I don’t know where I sit on this sort of idea.

    Can you do this with any book or set of books? Cross compare stories, especially if you reduce to metaphor and cross compare that instead.

    To me this question strikes back to the heart of how particular books came to hold the positions they did. Hypothesising on any subject can be fun, does Sauron represent a real being that Tolkien experienced through mystical forces? Can we reduce Lord of the Rings to metaphor and gleam truth from it? Which truths? And perhaps more importantly if civilisation was destroyed and only a few books remained and Lord of the Rings was one of them, carried forward and coming to be believed in as real history in a world of limited study and academic investigation, what would the affects be?

    We have always found it convenient to create power distribution systems based on the reading of particular books, those books defined by some ‘elite’. Are Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde really the absolute best of their time, or are other writers being ignored? Is it fair that life chances, chances of employment etc, should be defined by which books you have read.

    Some books in ancient times clearly became used by elites to distribute and control power, but does this lend the books any more credibility, or are we just playing into the hands of a particular elite when we uphold them today?

    Given how it appears that ancient ‘historians’ mixed their beliefs and narratives with their work to create semi-factual-fictions (or put more nicely- filled in the blanks with that they believed to be true based on their religion or culture etc) how much should we trust any work that uses ancient elitisms of mixed narrative history to try and determine ‘real history’?

    1. The book picks the reader

      To me this question strikes back to the heart of how particular books came to hold the positions they did.

      IMO that’s a very mysterious process, how some books manage to capture the Zeitgeist of a determined era, while others do not.

      Take for instance DaVinci Code. Other people had come before Brown and proposed the same things; yet it was with Brown that these ideas attained popular attention. Why is this? Is it something to do with a change in the political and social climate? a mysterious force manipulating our collective unconscious? Perhaps all of the above, or none.

      But the thing is that some books manage to reach some ‘critical mass’, and its influence transcend boundaries. Zitchin’s books have become so important that people who have not read them can be aware of their main message. That’s not related to the actual veracity of his claims, mind you; but it stirred something in the public, something deep and powerful.

      So, whether the impact those books had on society is entirely the credit of the author themselves is yet to be seen. I don’t think it’s a cookie-cutter formula, otherwise Hollywood would have purchased the rights of that 🙂

      Can we reduce Lord of the Rings to metaphor and gleam truth from it? Which truths?

      Of course! You mean you don’t?? 😉

      Like I said, when these works transcend their intended purpose and become something bigger, it’s because there’s a deep and powerful element that resonates in the human condition.

      My idea of great literature is this: the ability to use narrative as an excuse to ponder upon what it means to be a human being. A great author is not just a good story-teller.

      And perhaps more importantly if civilisation was destroyed and only a few books remained and Lord of the Rings was one of them, carried forward and coming to be believed in as real history in a world of limited study and academic investigation, what would the affects be?

      That is a valid argument. What would an archeologist from the future think about finding this!

  3. Intellectual courage
    I haven’t made up my mind about Sitchin’s theory.
    Though, I have always appreciated his being ready, after spending his whole life supporting the theory of the Annunaki, to put everything on the table, even running the risk of being proven wrong and ridiculized.
    I don’t know many “mainstream” scholars or scientists that would be ready to do the same.
    It is very sad that he died without being able to realize this project; even the fact that his death went quite unnoticed is sad.
    And of course, I don’t think anyone will carry on the project; the Natural History Museum of London has made quite clear that they are not so willing and helpful about that.

    1. My favorite brow wrinkling
      My favorite brow wrinkling book lately – “Cancer Planet Mission” which is available as a downloadable pdf on “ufotv.”

      The downloadable .pdf is pretty good, but I eventually got the original hard copy for $100.00 at an antiquarian book dealer. Pullman sounds very credible and believable, yet the tale doesn’t totally hang together. It is in that gray area, but of all the accounts residing in that limbo “Cancer Planet” is for me the most compelling. Perhaps someone here has information about its veracity that I don’t yet know about. If this is a fake it is a pretty artful one though. Someone told me that Kesey and The Merry Pranksters were into this book at one time.

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