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Sunday, April 16, 2023

"Against Ice Age Civilizations'


Graham Hancock. Creative Commons photo. Source. 

I think it's safe to say there are at least some Robert Anton Wilson fans who are interested in Graham Hancock, the British writer who claims there were advanced Ice Age civilizations before the known civilizations of antiquity. Jesse Michels, the purported "modern-day Robert Anton Wilson," has featured Graham Hancock on his YouTube show.  The Daily Grail website, has 154 results when you search for "Robert Anton Wilson," and 459 if you search for Graham Hancock.

So I thought sombunall of  you might be interested in "Against Ice  Age Civilizations," a piece by Substack blogger Scott Alexander. 

Alexander says there are actually three separate claims (1)  Civilizations about as advanced as the people who built Stonehenge (2) Civilizations about as advanced as Pharaonic Egypt and  (3) Civilizations about as advanced as 1700s Great Britain, and says Hancock is making the third claim.

Alexander then considers the evidence, such as the lack of surviving sites, the absence of cultivated crops that can be traced back to the Ice Age, and the lack of evidence for high levels of lead until about 1,000 BC.

"I think there’s pretty strong evidence against lost Egypt- or Great Britain- level Ice Age civilizations," Alexander says "I don’t want to rule out a lost Stonehenge or Gobekli Tepe level civilization, but there’s not much positive evidence, and there’s some negative evidence."



4 comments:

Anonymous said...

https://m.facebook.com/Author.GrahamHancock/photos/robert-anton-wilson-on-the-merits-of-disobedience/10153824513437354/?_se_imp=0QJVFmrTHOYRLwmEd

Cleveland Okie (Tom Jackson) said...

Cool to see Graham Hancock quoting RAW! Thank you. Although, I have to point out that Scott Alexander, to give him credit, is not arguing from authority but is making his argument based on evidence.

Anonymous said...

Haven’t read it yet. Just sharing the teeny-weenie RAW connection,
apropos of nothing.

Spookah said...

When it comes to tinfoil hat/ancient civilizations types of documentaries, I find Graham Hancock to be top of the basket. I find it entertaining, I often learn something, it activates my imagination, and sharpen my BS detector. I find myself able to consider such ideas with a fairly clear mind, because I do not feel emotionally engaged. I have no horse in this race, no ideological territory to defend (Circuit 2).

I mean, if some people go nuts about proving or debunking ancient aliens, no wonder we are where we are these days when it comes to, say, politics.
Again, the Sphinx seems to me a benign enough place to start practicing model agnosticism.
I wish Mr Hancock all the best.