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10 Things We Learned About Aliens (and Hairspray) from Giorgio Tsoukalos’ AMA
Whether you know him by name—or even know how to pronounce his name—you’ve no doubt stumbled upon an episode of Ancient Aliens on the History Channel and wondered two things: Does extraterrestrial life indeed exist? And how does Giorgio Tsoukalos get his hair to do that?
The alien enthusiast-turned-Internet meme (he’s also the publisher of Legendary Times Magazine and the director of Erich von Daniken’s Ancient Alien Society) answered these questions and more during his informative Reddit AMA on Friday evening. Here are our 10 takeaways.
1. EXTRATERRESTRIAL TECHNOLOGY COULD MAKE ALIENS INVISIBLE TO US.
When asked about his thoughts on the Fermi Paradox (which essentially asks the question: if aliens exist, why can’t we see them?), Tsoukalos replied that, “The Fermi Paradox is an incredibly important observation. However, we have to understand that providing extraterrestrials exist, and providing that they have been here in the past, and are currently either observing or even still visiting us, their technology is so far beyond what we can even imagine—the idea or the suggestion that, you know, 'if they exist, where are they' (which the Fermi Paradox suggests), just because we cannot see them does not mean they are not here—because their technological capabilities would allow them to essentially appear invisible to us.”
2. HE’S COOL WITH YOU THINKING HE’S CRAZY.
When asked about how he responds to those who believe he’s a bit off his rocker because of his belief in extraterrestrial life, Tsoukalos says, “That's perfectly fine. Because I am the first one to admit that what I am talking about is crazy, or can be regarded as crazy, so I am perfectly aware that these thoughts sound out there. BUT this does not prevent me from continuing to ask questions. Because if—in this day and age—asking questions means that you're crazy? Then I admit, I am the craziest of them all.”
3. THERE IS NO ONE THEORY THAT PROVES EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE EXISTS.
“It's not necessarily one piece of the puzzle per se,” says Tsoukalos when asked about the most plausible theory of extraterrestrial existence. “It is the overall picture. Because what we are talking about, in the Ancient Astronaut theory, we are talking about circumstantial evidence. It's the combination of a whole bunch of pieces that can be regarded as circumstantial evidence, and in a court of law, circumstantial evidence allows you to win court cases. There are no crashed UFOs that are on display anywhere, or no extraterrestrial tools have been found, those are all items that so far have not been discovered, there is no one concise piece of evidence that we can say 'Look, here is the smoking gun.' So it is a combination of everything. All the different pieces.”
4. HIS HAIRSTYLE IS NO ACCIDENT.
One theory that Tsoukalos was quick to debunk? That his famously big hair is naturally that wild. “Oh. It's definitely styled,” he says. “I mean, it's lots of hairspray.”
5. HE SAW A UFO LAST SUMMER.
Asked if he has ever personally seen a UFO or some other unexplained phenomenon, Tsoukalos shared that “On August 8, 2014, along with 26 other people, with night-vision goggles, in Joshua Tree at the Contact in the Desert Conference around midnight, where we saw stars inside the Big Dipper, which obviously didn't belong there, and after 10 minutes of observing those two stars, they began to move equidistant from each other up into space, or into darkness of the night sky. So essentially removing themselves, or moving away from the Big Dipper. I would not talk about this event, but because as a whole there were 27 people, we all saw the same, I certainly have no problem in talking about this. Because we know what we saw. We all saw the same thing. And we were all quite sober, so there was nothing weird going on, or anything like that. Those two things most certainly were not meteors, because they were flying up, and not towards the earth, and they weren't satellites, because they disappeared into space.”
6. HE’S HONORED TO BE A MEME.
Tsoukalos is totally into being an Internet meme. “I think it's a great honor to have been embraced by the interwebz, worldwide,” he says. “I really think that it just shows that—it doesn't show anything, but it shows that people embrace the show. I think it's wonderful, the fan-base, I have the best fans in the world. “
7. OF COURSE HE BELIEVES THAT ALIENS ARE AMONG US.
"I'm always fascinated by the idea that there is a giant gap between what happened in our ancient past, and then what happened in 1947 with the Roswell crash—the Roswell crash is when the extraterrestrials returned, I don't think that that is the case," said Tsoukalos, after being asked why aliens stopped visiting us. "And that they have been at least observing us this entire time. Perhaps not as involved as they were in our remote past, with guiding us, giving us advice, giving us knowledge, but providing that they did this, it is something they are interested to see how it all worked out, or how it's all working out. So I don't think they've left completely. It's an idea, of course."
8. YES, HE HAS SEEN ANCIENT ALIENS DEBUNKED. NO, IT DIDN’T CONVINCE HIM OF ANYTHING.
In 2012, Chris White wrote and directed Ancients Aliens Debunked, a three-hour documentary aimed at refuting the many theories put forth by the History Channel's series. But Tsoukalos isn't buying it. "A three-hour movie cannot debunk 50 years of research," he says. "I welcome the effort, but it has not, in any way, shape, or form, changed my opinion."
9. HE LOVES THE X-FILES.
Tsoukalos calls himself “a huge fan” of the series and is “very excited that it is coming back for six more episodes with the original cast! Or part of the original cast. Not everybody, but definitely Duchovny and Gillian Anderson.”
10. HE’S A HUGE STAR WARS FAN, TOO.
“Someone asked if I had a favorite movie or TV show about aliens,” shared Tsoukalos. “OH MY GOSH, there are too many! I love the Alien franchise. I'm a huge fan of Star Wars. Stargate is 100% based ON the Ancient Astronaut theory, so you know ... there are many, many science fiction movies and TV shows that are wonderfully embracing the idea of Ancient Astronauts. I just saw yesterday, or is it today, the second Star Wars trailer, and I think I'm already going to stand in line for it! TAKE MY MONEY NOW!”