Filip Coppens passed away in Los Angeles after fighting a rare form of cancer that was only merciful in that it did not prolong his suffering for too long. Some of you may now Filip from his appearances on Ancient Aliens but his work goes much deeper than that extremely reductionist presentation of AAT.
In fact, Filip recently wrote The Ancient Alien Question, that delved into the topic in a balanced, open-ended and dare I say skeptical fashion. His work on the topic- and all things weird and wonderful- is far more rewarding and challenging than the series itself. It was certainly a welcome corrective to the "flesh 'n' blood extra-treshtruls" mantra that has reduced the show to a laughingstock for so many.
If you aren't familiar with Filip's work, please take this opportunity to delve into his website, which is a gemstone in the Reality-Based High Weirdness crown. Knee-jerking was anathema to Filip, who always erred on the side of open-minded caution.
Filip always realized that habeas corpus wasn't just a legal formality, it was vital that alt.researchers end each sentence with a question mark until you can deliver the goods. Even if the Establishment never has to play by those rules.
Filip, like Mac Tonnies, left us far too soon. But his (and Mac's) work remains and if his way-too-early passing brings it to your attention for the first time, then take the opportunity to enrich your life with it. The bulk of Filip's work deals with the secret history of ancient Europe and South America, and he spent a lot of time actually visiting the sites he wrote about.
The alt.research world is most certainly faced with some major challenges and there's no sign on the horizon that it's going to weather the coming storm front. There are a lot of dark forces with a lot of dark money who see it as a rich mission field for a gospel of fear, and it seems that their investment is really starting to pay off. In that, Filip's passing seems like an omen.
I have never been more pessimistic as to where the field is going, particularly with the rise of Conspiricianity, which has the terrible gravity of a black hole and is sucking the feeble-minded into it like so much space-dust. Of course, all the fear-worship repels the same people Filip was trying to reach, turning them off to unconventional POVs, perhaps forever. Which is almost certainly the idea.
But perhaps the question becomes one of delivery. As I wrote recently, I was gobsmacked to see how dominant the high and the weird has become in Geekdom, even if it has to sneak through the back door, unannounced. But maybe the truly revolutionary thought contagions always do.
Either way, Filip Coppens left this Samsara but not before leaving behind a few cheat-codes for those who truly want to hack the reality mainframe. Take advantage of them.
