Dr Bones said:
Slightly OT but it just occurred to me that why do some people seem to need to believe in something paranaormal to explain history/evolution?
If it's not God or religious, then it's aliens, time travellers or transdimensional CGI puppets.
In an ever shrinking world with ever-shrinking privacy, I think it's rather healthy to believe in something mysterious and not 100% explained away by either science, religion, or aliens. As long as that belief isn't used to say, start a war, or squash someone's right to think or believe what and how they choose to. Most everyone in the world thinks that their own personal view is the right one, yet most people who believe in one singular thing, like the existence of god, or jesus, or even less broad one particular branch of one particular faith bicker amongst themselves about which parts are important, or how they are to be interpreted. Science is also evolving, and may come close, but will never fully unlock the secrets of the universe. There's simply too much out there for us to master our knowledge over. Things like aliens and time-travel are not imposible, and are wildly more entertaining to consider than the stuffy preaching of a religious leader, or sterile facts and figures from a man in a lab coat. For me, the unknown and bizarre keep alive a small sense of wonder that the cynical age we live in is too eager to crush. After all, isn't it possible that is why so many of us are fans of a cynical archaeologist, from a simpler time, who happens upon supernatural objects/events, that cause him to question what it is that he truly believes?