Talk:Erich von Däniken

What the ancient astronauts would do
Assuming 'viable space travel' (as distinct from 'Escape from Armageddon and settle on first viable planet (however long it takes)') exists visiting the Earth is not implausible.
 * Having personally lived far, far longer than most denizens of this planet, I've learned to keep a VERY open mind about the evolution of knowledge - especially when based on long experience. (Say an extra million years or so?) Himagain 21:35, 5 May 2015 (UTC)

Most ancient astronaut theorists appear to assume that such aliens can automatically speak the locals' language/have some facility for automatic bidirectional translation.
 * see my above point. The original poster here reminds me of the "infallible Englishman", or Rome at its peak. Of course there would be a "babel Fish"/bilingual dictionary/ Hitchhikers Guide equivalent. Himagain 21:35, 5 May 2015 (UTC)

But why would 'the aliens' go around constructing giant monuments (Pyramids, Nazca Lines etc)?
 * You missed the point: the LOCALS construct such things, even to this day. (Attention-getters.) Himagain 21:35, 5 May 2015 (UTC)

Why not 'teach the locals' the basics of health and safety, Slavery is Wrong, Suppressing Women is Wrong etc, that the Earth orbits the Sun etc.
 * WHOA! Suppressing women is a good example. As soon as they escaped control - life for males became immeasurably more difficult.:-)
 * May I remind readers that Capt. Kirk often reiterated that we are supposed to leave people alone..... Himagain 21:35, 5 May 2015 (UTC)

Or if they are Gap Year Travel the Galaxy young creatures, merely writing 'XGQSGSTbloop was here', and leaving the equivalent of beer cans around?
 * They obviously did so - What about Nazca "landing strip" and other giant graffiti? AND they left some knowledge of some things here. (Australian Aborigines legends - I do have personal experience/knowledge in this area) Himagain 21:35, 5 May 2015 (UTC)

And why shouldn't said aliens look like the FSM, triffids, Dalek or other non-human entities of choice? 82.44.143.26 (talk) 16:36, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

Why not? What has that to do with considering the proposition that we are not alone? Just look at the diversification in the humanoids on this little planet right now: Caucasoid, Negroid, Mongoloid, FEMALES, MALES. Himagain 21:35, 5 May 2015 (UTC)

Finally, instead of snide schoolchild "humour"(?), posters - including the "executives" here need to remember/learn the fate of Narcissus. There are so very few Politically Incorrect places left today to actually discuss/learn of alternative views in a civilised manner and it does all people well to consider their own personal bizarre beliefs/conditioning by simply regularly asking oneself: what a strange belief their own Religion is comparative to others. Namaste! --Himagain talk 21:35, 5 May 2015 (UTC)
 * "Australian Aborigines legends - I do have personal experience/knowledge in this area" ok, I'll bite. Are you an aboriginal (preferably tribal and initiated) or did you personally witness the dreamtime events, or did you just study aboriginal myths, and do you have a knowledge of cultural norms ? Hamster (talk) 01:56, 6 May 2015 (UTC)
 * Not to mention that it's a stone cold appeal to ancient wisdom, of course. ScepticWombat (talk) 06:59, 6 May 2015 (UTC)
 * I had to clean up the entangled posts above to make them somewhat readable. Don't do that again.--ZooGuard (talk) 10:17, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

WAY BEYOND THE USUAL SNIPING QUESTIONS
"Erich" is a very good place to start an intellectual appeal to expand on the astounding data that is actually available to us today. What is most important is to understand always the motives behind any attack, as distinct from any evaluation. Erich did a great service in that he gathered a tremendous number of ANOMALIES in his travels and although not too well-presented,(he is a poor writer and speaker)he created an astounding groundswell of interest in the Alien Visitor genre.

Over the decades, I've personally engaged many people in conversation about the subject and learned one critical fact: Do not mention him first! The astounding negative "press" about him and his work is identical to mentioning just the word "conspiracy", much less the whole phrase: "Conspiracy Theory of History", which produces the classic knee-jerk reaction in the bulk of humanity and automatically precludes any civilised discussion. A violent knee-jerk reaction is a very necessary thing when faced with an absolute challenge to the determined dogma of a given subject. Most people will go through their entire lives without ever realising that this knee-jerk reaction has been programmed into them from the very beginning.

The remarkable modern day true Alchemist Kylneth teaches a very simple method for a genuine researcher to eliminate their own natural bias/prejudice in examining a proposition that is new to them: simply identify your own belief, then set out to demolish it, not the new and possibly scary proposition.

I've chosen this point in the rational wiki dealing with Eric because both the man and his subject have attracted such incredible attention. My intention is to perhaps attract some thinking people to the idea of more closely examining this critical point: it can be very difficult to get past one's own knee-jerk reaction because of the fantastic effort by Our Owners in conditioning us to the "1984/Big Brother" world in which we actually live today.

Certainly, in all of those "unacceptable" characters and books and now websites, there will be much to challenge and even nitpick in our own account, much less the barrage of naysayers/5th columnists which will be generated by Our Owners.

The key point of my post here this morning is simply to remind you my fellow seekers of the truth, that in such examples as these there are those diamonds, which older more experienced seekers always look for and focus on: the anomalies.

It is these anomalies-the unanswerable questions-that both hide and reveal the truth that we seek.

This page is a great starting point. There are literally hundreds of anomalies discovered and presented by Eric that we should expound upon and while it is such a long shot, I am kind of hoping that we can create a bit of a round table on this very spot. Thank you for reading this far, I appreciate you. Namaste. 23:34, 5 May 2015‎
 * would you care to list them - so they can be answered. There is an entire series of vids on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ-8MrEGFdrfxIkSNvCWTnQ) debunking the ancient astronauts theories. Hamster (talk) 02:01, 6 May 2015 (UTC)
 * What would be the fun in (or point of) listing them? Vague assertions are far better - once you get into the nitty gritty, people can actually debunk the AA nonsense (and as you've pointed out they already have). ScepticWombat (talk) 07:02, 6 May 2015 (UTC)
 * Why did you drop the h in your later references to Erich? 141.134.75.236 (talk) 09:07, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

"official website" Link Broken
It appears that the evdaniken.com domain expired. I find it rather amusing, but is there an updated domain, or is it finally over? Is his official website now daniken.com? If it's a joke, it's a funny as hell to click the link and get redirected to the bought up domain. jrussellwrites (talk) 17:14, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

there's an album...
some sort of vanity project, paid for by his dad... paul fishman put together a session band & banged out a reasonably decent space-rock instrumental suite called "in search of ancient gods", calling the band for these purposes "absolute elsewhere". among them was jon astrop on bass, later to co-write (with my mate mark shreeve) a hit for samantha fox, & one william bruford on drums. this latter was between gigs, having been let go by robert fripp & yet to receive the call from a post-gabriel genesis looking to fill their now-vacant drum-stool. the album sat on many coffee tables during the 70s, as the smart/chattering set imbibed red wine & grass... von daniken's demographic. to be honest, the album deserves better.

Duncanrmi (talk) 10:19, 20 June 2018 (UTC)

Just seen him...
..on Ancient Aliens, where he's suggested that the must have been the responsibility of aliens, and not an asteroid, as they [the dinosaurs] were the only lifeforms to go extinct. --Scherben (talk) 01:03, 29 July 2018 (UTC)