lpetrich

Back in one Sunday in 1951, Carl Sagan had come up with the theory that Moses, Jesus Christ, and other such personages were extraterrestrial visitors who had worked all the miracles attributed to them with the help of their advanced technology.

That afternoon, he went with a college roommate and some others to a very formal sort of restaurant, the sort that one might go to after going to church. And at one point, with no clearly-evident provocation, CS slammed his fist onto the table and said:

"But I tell you, Jesus Christ *is* extraterrestrial!"

Which was rather unsettling to his acquaintances.

Needless to say, CS would later show greater critical sense, though he was willing to entertain some Danikenesque speculation in _Intelligent Life in the Universe_.

Marduk

"Needless to say, CS would later show greater critical sense, though he was willing to entertain some Danikenesque speculation "

Well, publicly anyway, I'll bet in private it was more like. "Aliens! Aliens! they were all Aliens! mwaa haa haa haa!"

ecco

I suppose you have some sort of evidence that this actually took place.

Grumpy

Was this before or after he started doing reefer?

lpetrich

This anecdote is from William Poundstone's biography, page 21 (early in the book).

lpetrich

Apparently before; he is not known to have smoked pot before the late 1960's or early 1970's.

Grumpy

...But I'm sure smoking da chronic afterward made his early "ancient astronaut" conjecture sound a lot more plausible.