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Aliens and History People tend to believe all sorts o

People tend to believe all sorts of non-scientific and paranormal concepts and to accept this belief without proof. A prevalent belief is that aliens from some other cosmic body have visited the earth, though there is no direct proof of such an event. Many see this belief as deriving from the prevalence of science fiction in literature, films, and television and from anxiety brought about during the Cold War era, but in fact some belief in alien beings can be found throughout history, though identifying these interlopers as aliens from another planet is more common today than to see them as demons or emissaries from heaven or hell (even though many people believe in visitations from both these realms as well). Psychologists have considered the source of irrational beliefs of all sorts, including a belief in extraterrestrial visitors, and have developed theories to explain why some people accept such beliefs so readily and why there are periods when many people hold irrational beliefs. A consideration of how this applies specifically to the questions of whether extraterrestrial visitors have come to earth in our history serves to show some of the dimensions identified by psychologists.

INCIDENCE OF SUCH BELIEFS THROUGH HISTORY

Steven J. Dick notes the increase in scientific investigation of extraterrestrial life in recent years while also indicating that people would be surprised to learn that the concept did not first appear in this century but instead extends back to two of the most fertile periods of Western science, that of ancient Greece and the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the time of the scientific revolution:

It as during this period that the question was first posed, the possibility widely accepted, and the framework for an answer developed. It is in this period also that the origins of many of the arguments that still rebound in the modern debate appear. These must provide the foundation for any st...

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Aliens and History People tend to believe all sorts o. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 19:12, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1707986.html