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Notes from tired Egyptian whose job is explaining that humans built the pyramids
- buffer_overlord 4mo agoNot saying it was Aline’s but it was aliens
- dabadabad00 4mo agoHumans. The “aliens” do not like to leave overt signs of meddling. The glyphs of Peru had more to do with the off worlders. Such are how tribesmen “represented” their local identities to the sky peoples. In ancient times, the Greys did in fact visit primitive tribes peoples. They introduced themselves, chatted for a bit. The Hopi and other end of the world myths were instigated by these conversations. Without their intervention the world was to be consumed by nuclear fires before 2012. https://pastebin.com/42dTemNe https://pastebin.com/42dTemNe
- snapcaster 4mo agoSo it's a sci-fi short story? what reason would anyone have to believe this stuff?
- expedition32 4mo agoWhat reason do people have to believe the Moses story?
- deleted 4mo ago[deleted]
- buffer_overlord 3mo agoexactly.
- WalterBright 4mo agoSaying that aliens built them is as likely as claiming magic built them.
- iamarobot 4mo agoFor real
- echelon_musk 4mo agoThe Testament of Solomon indulges this craziness. > the text describes how Solomon was enabled to build his temple by commanding demons by means of a magical ring that was entrusted to him by the archangel Michael. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testament_of_Solomon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testament_of_Solomon
- irishcoffee 4mo ago> The Testament of Solomon is a pseudepigraphical composite text ascribed to King Solomon but not regarded as canonical scripture by Jews or Christian groups. It was written in the Greek language, based on precedents dating back to the early 1st millennium AD, but was likely not completed in any meaningful textual sense until sometime in the Middle Ages. Yeah that’s super reliable…
- kelseyfrog 4mo agoMoreover cannonical and historical truth are orthogonal axes.
- kulahan 4mo agoMagic is explicitly something outside the realm of possibility, but I get what you’re saying.
- empath75 4mo agothe wild thing about this is that _we have contemporaneous records of how they were built_. They know the names of architects and managers. There's no mystery to it at all.
- soperj 4mo agolinks?
- empath75 4mo agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diary_of_Merer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diary_of_Merer among many others.
- BoardsOfCanada 4mo agoI thought these were just about limestone blocks being transported from quarries in Tura to Giza.
- inigyou 4mo agoaliens had to hire humans to move the stones?
- spogbiper 4mo agothe aliens could have planted those records tho
- echelon_musk 4mo agoExtraterrestrial parallel construction.
- ceroxylon 4mo agoThere are no photos of Merer, they were actually extraterrestrial /s
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- sscaryterry 4mo agoI can sympathise and understand why people don't believe this is within human capabilities. Look at how fractured the government and political systems of the west have become. Humans forget. We've forgotten how to build pyramids, we've forgotten the second world war and the lessons learned.
- qsort 4mo ago"The government sucks therefore aliens built the pyramids" has to be the line of thinking I sympathize the least with in the entire span of human opinions.
- empath75 4mo ago> We've forgotten how to build pyramids. Luxor in Vegas is way more complicated than the egyptian pyramids were.
- Hikikomori 4mo agoThe bass pro pyramid store was built by aliens.
- boringg 4mo agoAre you for real?
- marshray 4mo agoThese are common false narratives pushed by "documentaries" on Netflix and cable television in the US.
- sscaryterry 4mo agoChrist, tongue-in-cheek?
- boringg 3mo agoTough to tell these days. I got seriously asked by someone from Egypt if I though the pyramids were built by humans or aliens. I stared at them in disbelief.
- john_strinlai 4mo agoone piece of "evidence" some conspiracy believers cite to prove aliens is, roughly: a bunch of places around the world independently all built similar pyramid-like structures (egypt, machu picchu, etc.). so it must be aliens. the fact that the easiest way to pile up a bunch of big rocks without it crumbling down is to have a wide base and a narrow top is seemingly forgotten.
- deleted 4mo ago[deleted]
- qup 4mo agoIt strikes me that it also might be the best way to build a tall structure, for the ancients. It takes modern materials to build skinny and tall.
- slg 4mo ago>without it crumbling down Which is an underappreciated part. They didn't only build pyramids, it's just pyramids had a much higher chance of actually surviving the millennia so it looks like early human civilizations were weirdly obsessed with pyramids. You never hear any theories about how aliens built the Colossus of Rhodes, but the pyramids get it because they're still around.
- thewebguyd 4mo agoIf there was ever a candidate for alien intervention its the roman aqueducts, and like you said, I never see any conspiracies for that either. The romans figured out water filtration, built a massive underground network, figured out hydraulic pressure, and created concrete that can set underwater and resisted cracking. Far more impressive than a pyramid IMO.
- AdmiralAsshat 4mo ago"I personally can't conceive of how one might built this, and I must be a million times smarter than people 4500 years ago, ergo people didn't build this." is how the Ancient Aliens theory always sounds to me.
- alberth 4mo agoAncient Aliens conflates two very different ideas. The show’s core argument is that ancient civilizations were more advanced than we give them credit for. That may be true, but “more advanced” does not mean they had superior technology or help from aliens. It can simply mean they had technical knowledge, methods, or craftsmanship that we have since lost or forgotten. Elon Musk has made a similar point about the US space program. We landed on the moon more than 50 years ago, but in some ways we now have to relearn how to do it (because we forgot how). That does not mean we had better technology in the 1960s, and it certainly does not mean aliens were involved. It means knowledge, systems, expertise, and institutional capability can fade over time. And that doesn't mean aliens were involved (as the tvshow would make you believe).
- thewebguyd 4mo ago> It means knowledge, systems, expertise, and institutional capability can fade over time This has also been happening since ancient times. Famously, how to make roman concrete was lost after the fall of the empire and Europe did not reinvent high quality concrete until much later in the 18th century. They also lost entire industrial-scale manufacturing pipelines for pottery and had a regression back to crude, hand-shaped pottery. Turns out we humans have been dealing with the same human problems for hundreds of thousands of years.
- theturtletalks 4mo agoThis reminds me of Gall’s Law. You cannot create a complex system, you must create a simple system and improve it over time. The issue arises when you get so many iterations in, you’ve forgotten the process. Any catastrophic event can mean you won’t be able to create the silicon chip or airplanes and so much other technology. Maybe I’m wrong and people and books do exist that can explain the process and human might would succeed.
- jmaw 4mo ago> aggressively supervised Is that what we're calling it now?
- dmd 4mo agothat's the joke
- geraneum 4mo agoI think a lack of curiosity and capacity also play a role in some believing the conspiracies. The information is there. More accessible than ever, yet most out of reach for our brains addicted to instant gratification of doom scrolls and outrageous headlines that we’re blasted with by multibillion dollar attention optimization machines.
- krisoft 4mo ago> The information is there. Well. Not really? Of course a lot of information is available but still there is a lot of open questions. Just considering the Great Pyramid of Giza: was it built with an external or an internal ramp? What was the purpose of the so called “well shaft”? What was the purpose of the “grand gallery”? What about the “air shafts”? Is the restoration of the so called “great step” in the “grand gallery” historically accurate? What is going on with the “big void” and the “small void” seemingly indicated by the ScanPyramid data? How did those who dug the “robbers tunnel” know how deep the granite plugs are? My point is that there are enough interesting questions even after one learns “all there is to know”. They are just not in the realm of “aliens?” but much more like “what order were the ramps removed?”
- geraneum 4mo agoInformation is there to help steer people away from crazy conspiracy theories. The kind of information that help people even arrive at the questions you mentioned. That’s the whole point of my argument.
- sporedro 4mo agoI feel like people believe whatever they want and the narrative changes to “can you 105% guarantee aliens didn’t build them?” I mean even if you could people would still believe whatever they want… must be tiring for sure.
- moralestapia 4mo agoHopefully he gets replaced by AI and is relieved of his torment.
- data-ottawa 4mo agoRelated: Masonry Techniques of the Inca’s Master Builders https://www.earthasweknowit.com/pages/inca_construction https://www.earthasweknowit.com/pages/inca_construction This article was a fantastic read, and thoroughly debunks a lot of ancient alien style stuff.
- rramadass 4mo agoVery informative article with excellent photographs. You should post it to HN for greater visibility instead of being buried in the comments.
- yongjik 4mo ago> People dramatically underestimate what thousands of organized humans can accomplish when they are adequately fed, aggressively supervised, and denied alternative career paths. Somehow I feel personally attacked.
- prmph 4mo agoThe LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them..."
- doublerabbit 4mo agoEgyptians were clever. They had rivers, water and advanced water-management technology. The shaduf, which is a hand-operated lever with a bucket, to lift water from rivers and canals for irrigation. The Nile River annually flooded which was monitored because it determined agricultural success. As well, the Nile served as a transportation route. Huge stone blocks transported through and evidence suggests that canals and harbours were built near some pyramid complexes to help move materials closer to construction sites. https://aeraweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/aeragram15_1-2.pdf https://aeraweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/aeragram15_1-... Clever people. Not as advanced as the Romans but they had technology and prospered for a long while.
- nonethewiser 3mo agoThe question is how did these clever people build the pyramids. When you read about it you realize no one really knows. There are theories that have evolved over time but there isnt great evidence for any of it. Its largely people thinking about how it could have happened - not how it DID happen. Of course that doesnt means aliens did it.
- comrade1234 4mo agoIf aliens built the pyramids they did a pretty shit job. You can see the evolution where they started building a pyramid and realized it would be too high so they changed the angle half-way up. If they had computers and geometry they probably would have gotten it right from the start.
- pixel_popping 4mo agoWe are literally about to build the next civilization and some still wonder if we can build the Pyramids while it's actually basic for today's technology, people are not on phase, it's scary to see that gap.
- chadd 4mo agoThe classic Mcsweeney's for the HN crowd is "E-mail Addresses That Would Be Really Annoying to Give Out Over the Phone" https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/e-mail-addresses-that-would-be-really-annoying-to-give-out-over-the-phone https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/e-mail-addresses-that-wo...
- evtothedev 4mo agoI love that gmail was only 4 months old when this came out.
- NikolaNovak 4mo agoMy father in law has email address that is about his small dog. He's Scottish and his dog growls a lot. So his address is weegrrrr. Oh let me tell you the fun of spelling that one over the phone. He's also not the most patient man in the world either :-)
- dafugg 4mo agoTell him to be careful. The chinese government might try to re-educate his email address.
- NikolaNovak 4mo agoHow so?
- folkrav 4mo agoTook me a while admittedly (probably a "me problem") but it's a word play of "Uyghur".
- Fezzik 4mo agoThe Chinese government has been rounding up Uyghurs (pronounced like we-gir) to reeducate them. And the government really does not like it when people talk about it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Uyghurs_in_China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Uyghurs_in_Chin...
- speak_plainly 4mo agoI think people fall into two distinct camps here: the wildly exploratory, who chase everything from lost civilizations to aliens, and the hyper-rationalists, who refuse to budge from safe, conventional explanations. When it comes to Giza, It may be disingenuous to write all the banter off as either conspiracy or bona fide science. While we understand the general progression of pyramid-building in Egypt, the sheer scale and precision of Giza creates blind spots. There are major gaps in all explanations provided and there are a huge array of interesting but unprovable theories. People fill those gaps with whatever is compelling, but really, none are good enough to prove anything definitively and that includes the academic explanations. It's entirely possible that we may never have the definitive answer for how they were built or even exactly why, and will have to live with the mystery. But humans rarely will accept that conclusion and we would rather invent certainty than put up with open questions.
- deleted 4mo ago[deleted]
- rfwhyte 4mo agoWe do know pretty much exactly when they pyramids were built though, (+/- a couple hundred years, which in this context is "Exact" enough) as there have been numerous carbon datings of organic material found in the mortar between the stones of the pyramids, which all broadly line up with the other textual evidence (Mehrer texts, etc.) and contextual evidence (Dating of the work camps surrounding the pyramids) and there really isn't any great mystery in how they were built either, just a lack of specificity in terms of what exact method was used (ie. was it an internal or external ramp, were pulleys used, etc.)
- zkmon 4mo agoGiven that Giza pyramid took about 30 years, the internet and AI together took the same amount of time. So then AI is definitely a work of aliens from the far away galaxy.
- khelavastr 4mo agoThey used kite-sails with rollers, according to Caltech
- stpedgwdgfhgdd 4mo ago“People dramatically underestimate what thousands of organized humans can accomplish when they are adequately fed, aggressively supervised, and denied alternative career paths.“
- xdennis 4mo ago> This feels deeply insulting considering humans also created taxation, organized warfare, and raisins. Offtopic, but why do people hate raisins so much? No other dried fruit gets so much hate. I would imagine it's something genetic like the reason why some people dislike coriander (which has been shown to be related to genetic sensitivity to aldehydes).
- kulahan 4mo agoThe only other dried fruit I see people eat regularly is cranberries, and those really can’t be eaten fresh. I think it’s just that most people don’t like dried fruit and this is their only exposure. It’s definitely one of the most sickeningly sweet natural things you can eat that isn’t a sweetener in and of itself.
- msm_ 4mo agoExcuse me, fresh cranberries are delicious!
- enneff 4mo agoI don’t understand why you wouldn’t like raisins? They’re pretty much just sugar.
- glitcher 4mo agoFor me it's cookies. Thinking I'm about to bite into a chocolate chip cookie only to be sorely disappointed! Otherwise I like raisins, just fine on their own or in trail mix :)
- austin-cheney 4mo agoReminds me of my career explaining how to build simple webpages without using large abstraction libraries/frameworks for JavaScript.
- bji9jhff 4mo agoI think the more likely explanation is racism. If the pyramids were in Europe, nobody would challenge their human origin but pyramids are in Africa Surely aliens are involved.
- kulahan 4mo agoThis is such a weirdly misanthropic view of humanity. Why are people so desperate to find evil in this world when ignorance is not only nicer to believe, it’s insanely more accurate? Like I get it, you’re depressed, but this doesn’t automatically make everyone everywhere that doesn’t believe some random facts “racist”.
- AlotOfReading 4mo agoIf we interpret the grandparent charitably, they're saying the centuries-long history of people suggesting Africans couldn't have built the pyramids to justify their own racial bias [0] also applies to modern people. It doesn't seem like an outrageous position, nor does it preclude ignorance being involved. [0] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-white-southerners-distorted-the-history-of-ancient-egypt-to-justify-slavery-in-the-us-180987959/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-white-southerners...
- kulahan 3mo agoOf course it’s an outrageous position. You’re ignoring the fact that there are pyramids on multiple continents and pretending someone is saying only the pyramids in Africa could’ve been built by aliens while the rest were not. It has absolutely nothing to do with racism. You people are so desperate to find evil, I swear. How annoying.
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- applfanboysbgon 4mo agoThis is provably incorrect. Stonehenge is the target of alien conspiracies as well.
- jmclnx 4mo agoIt would be interesting to know who by Country or Language who believes ETs built the pyramids. Personally I expect US would be the leader. The reason is because over the last 50 years there have been lots of shows describing how and why Space Aliens built the pyramids. Some of these shows were well produced. In the US, it seems we are at the point if a show is based on fantasy, it is believed as fact.
- gnoll_of_gozag 4mo agoid say theres more here on the balkans
- rahidz 4mo agoMcSweeney's uses AI to write now? I was extremely suspicious, and pasted the text into Pangram, said 100% AI generated (and yes, I trust Pangram as they have extremely low rates of false positives).
- inigyou 4mo agoPangram is wrong 49% of the time. Try it on your own writing or stuff from before 2021.
- timnetworks 4mo agohttps://www.war.gov/UFO/ https://www.war.gov/UFO/
- effed3 4mo agoReally funny to read. but refleting uppon: maybe "aliens" are another name for a kind of ignorance spreading around. basic science and history simply gone. Not so funny to think about.
- Ha1zyydev 4mo ago[flagged]
- stevage 4mo agoI don't think humans really invented raisins.
- 3dedb728-3f77 4mo agoPlease someone explain why people today not making them anymore not make ancestors better than us. Ancestors were great. I just want a plan of how to do it.