I. International Online Conference
25. - 26. 2. 2021, Online, Zoom

Marleen Thaler

BA BA MA ,Ph.D. Candidate, University of Vienna
How Modern is Technology? The Liaison between Prehistoric UFOs and Modern Traditionalism
In the course of the twentieth century, certain European elitist circles have embraced Traditionalist thought, most notably promoted by its pioneer René Guénon (1886–1951). Ever since, a lose movement of like-minded people has handed down religiously adorned theories against the modern world. Modern Traditionalists and modernity are thus fierce enemies. Any progress, modernization, or, God forbid, technological advances are to Traditionalists what regression, stagnation, and reactionary forces are to the avant-garde. So, what could be a possible link between Traditionalism and modern technology? Perhaps, the fundamental doubt of technology’s belonging to the modern world. From the 1960s onwards, a self-proclaimed radical Traditionalist, who was subsequently cherished as a New Age prophet, was advocating ancient technology. 
True to the motto ‘opposites attract,’ the English writer John Michell (1933–2009) had reconciled many antagonisms. By linking archaeo-astronomy and various speculative Earth Mystery theories, Michell aimed to fuse prehistoric megalithic science and flying saucers. For Michell, the rejection of modernity and its byproducts was not contradictory to the belief in extraterrestrial means of technology. The aim of this paper is the exposition of Michell’s approach towards flying saucers as a technological means of prehistory from a modern Traditionalist perspective.