Season 1 (2025) ✨

🚀 Episode 30 of the Vale & Mark Podcast

(Ancient Trails — Season 1 Finale)

🤖 What If Ancient People Had AI? 😜

What if the biggest ancient mystery isn’t lost technology…but lost context?

In this season finale of Ancient Trails, Vale and Mark play with one of the most persistent modern questions:

What if ancient civilizations had access to something like artificial intelligence?

Not because they did.

But because we keep wanting them to have.

From undeciphered scripts and monumental architecture to mythic beings, oracles, and divine messengers, this episode explores why we so often project modern technologies backward onto ancient stories. Not as proof. As pattern.

We examine how AI has become the newest lens through which we reinterpret the past, much like gods, angels, aliens, and secret knowledge before it. Along the way, we unpack why humans reach for technological explanations when myth feels uncomfortable, and what that says about us now.

Because sometimes the only way to navigate the noise…is to rediscover the story underneath it.

👉 In this episode, we explore:

🗿 Why modern audiences frame ancient mysteries as advanced tech

📜 What undeciphered scripts and artifacts actually tell us (and what they don’t)

🤖 How AI has replaced aliens as the go-to explanatory shortcut

🧠 Why humans project intelligence onto the unknown

🔥 The difference between symbolic wisdom and technological literalism

🧭 What myth, meaning, and intelligence share across eras

🕯️ Why the ancients didn’t need AI to be profound

🔮 And why we might need better stories more than better machines

Chapters:

00:00 Cold Open

01:06 Intro

02:00 Recap the Codex of the Quantum Heralds

04:05 Sláinte! 🍀 🍺

05:00 What is AI Alignment

07:07 What are ChatGPT's needs?

09:00 Is EVERY fall a failure of alignment?

10:03 Did other Native Americans learn from the Mayan collapse?

13:43 How do we teach machines to our empathy but not our ego?

16:55 ChatGPT thinks it's a person!

20:40 Can Wisdom and Compassion be Encoded?

21:45 How does ChatGPT discern Wisdom from Intelligence?

26:26 Are we building preservation? Or towards a prophesy?

32:07 Middle Class Erosion and the Economic Shifts

34:12 Every trail ends where another begins (Ancients, Code, Memory, Meaning)

35:06 Outro

🎧 Listen next:

Subscribe for weekly dives into myth, meaning, AI, and the stories that shape us.

💬 Question for you:

What part of your hero’s journey are you living right now?Drop it in the comments. Someone else might need that map.

Ancient Trails reminds us:

Every generation reinterprets the past using the tools of the present.

The question isn’t whether the ancients had AI.

It’s what we’re revealing about ourselves by asking.

Season one ends here.The trail doesn’t.

Season 1 (2025) ✨

🚀 Episode 29 of the Vale & Mark Podcast 🚀

(Ancient Trails Part 7)

🔥 Did Ancient Humans REALLY Meet Aliens? 🔥

🔥 Raël, the Raelians, and the Synarchs of the Codex 🔥

What if humanity’s origin story isn’t ancient myth, but modern revelation?

In this episode, Vale and Mark examine Raëlism, one of the most controversial and technologically framed belief systems of the modern era. A movement that claims humanity was not created by gods or nature alone, but by an advanced extraterrestrial civilization known as the Elohim.

We explore Raël’s assertion that ancient religious texts were misunderstood records of contact, that prophets were intermediaries, and that religion itself exists as a preparatory system for humanity’s eventual reunion with its creators. At the center of this worldview sits the Synarchs of the Codex of the Quantum Heralds, a governing intelligence structure said to safeguard probabilistic knowledge, continuity, and cosmic order.

Rather than treating Raëlism as spectacle, we approach it as a case study in tech-forward belief. A religion born not from the distant past, but from the space age. One that replaces mysticism with genetics, divinity with science, and faith with preparation.

Because if advanced beings returned today, would we call them gods

…or just engineers with better tools?

👉 In this episode, explore:

🛸 Who Raël claims the Elohim really are

📜 How Raëlism reframes ancient scripture as contact records

🧠 The role of Synarchs in governing probability and continuity

🧬 Why Raëlism treats cloning, genetics, and AI as sacred science

👁️ How modern religions form around extraterrestrial narratives

🔭 Why belief systems adapt to the technology of their time

🤖 Whether humanity is preparing to become what it once worshipped

Chapters:

00:00 Cold Open

01:07 Intro

01:27 Obligatory Guinness Opening and Pouring ASMR Experience!

02:30 Sláinte! 🍀

03:08 The Raëlian Paradox

03:26 Who is Raël?

04:38 Where are the Raëlians today?

05:30 Why did the Raëlians blend religion, cloning, and E.T.?

06:41 What did these aliens want from us or whatever?

08:36 Why did the aliens engage with our species?

10:13 Were all of our prophets spacemen?

11:59 Who are our space ambassadors?

13:00 ... And who else?

13:50 When does innovation turn into ideology?

15:14 Did the Moon Landing give birth to a religion?

17:24 Did Raël turn the Chariots of the Gods into a church?

17:53 So why does he call himself Raël?

18:40 Hello to Caramelo!

19:00 So what do we call these aliens any how?

19:46 Should I start my own Sci Fi religion?

20:38 The Synarchs of the Codex of the Quantum Heralds

21:30 Synarchy Scripture

22:26 The B.S. our belief system is based on

24:31 How are sacred B.S. was first spread?

25:50 The Archons of Obfuscation

28:20 'The Information' by James Gleick (A History, a Theory, a Flood)

30:05 Darned Archons of Obfuscation!

31:03 Are we founding new religions in our labs and startups?

32:05 Become a Codexian today!

33:38 Are we chasing creators or becoming them?

34:23 Belief is an Operating System

35:00 Equanimity

39:34 Outro

Stories of creation don’t disappear.They evolve.From gods…to aliens…to intelligence we are now building ourselves.And if Raël is right, religion was never about worship.It was about waiting.

🎧 Listen next:

Subscribe for weekly explorations of belief systems, AI, mythic structures, and the strange places where science and faith collide.

💬 Is Raëlism a misunderstood future religion… or a mirror reflecting our technological ambitions?

Tell us what you think below.

🚀 Episode 28 of the Vale & Mark Podcast 🚀

(Ancient Trails Part 6)

🔥 Did Aliens Teach Ancient Civilizations? 🔥

🔥 Ancient Visitors: The Sky-Watchers of Sumer! 🔥

What if humanity’s earliest civilizations weren’t just looking up at the sky for meaning…but looking back at something that had already been there?

In this short, Vale and Mark dive into the ancient-astronaut idea and the enduring claim at the heart of Erich von Däniken’s Chariots of the Gods. Were the sky-watching Sumerians simply telling myths, or were they recording encounters with beings they believed came from above? And why do cultures across the world echo the same themes. Teachers descending from the heavens. Lost knowledge from forgotten ages. Cycles of rise and collapse that feel more like a cosmic loop than a straight line.

Along the way we explore how this idea keeps resurfacing in modern storytelling too. From Battlestar Galactica’s “All this has happened before and all this will happen again” to the Anunnaki legends that blur the line between mythology and memory. Because sometimes ancient stories sound less like fantasy and more like the world trying to remember something it forgot.

👉 In this short, discover:

🛸 Why the ancient-astronaut theory refuses to fade

📜 How Sumerian myths describe sky-beings like the Anunnaki

🔭 Why early civilizations saw knowledge as a gift from the stars

🌌 How Battlestar Galactica mirrors ancient cycles of rise and fall

👁️ Why von Däniken believed ancient monuments hold extraterrestrial clues

🧠 Whether humanity is rediscovering “lost knowledge” through modern AI

🔥 How myth and science both try to explain the same mysteries

🤖 Why today’s AI breakthroughs feel like technology our ancestors would call magic

Chapters:

00:00 Cold Open

01:08 Intro

01:21 Welcome

02:39 “Sláinte!”

03:08 How did the Ancient Astronauts stick around?

03:50 What is the argument for pre historic aliens? 👽

06:51 Is helmet ⛑️ a helmet? 🪖

07:41 Do we prefer alien 👽 teachers? 👩‍🏫

08:22 Sacsayhuamán

12:17 Are E.T. Myths a mirror 🪞 of our creation of A.I.?

14:06 What fascinates us about Sky 🌌 Creators?

14:43 Official UAP and UFO 🛸 Federal Acknowledgment

17:51 If we are meeting UAPs now then why not previously?

19:39 Are we a reflection of Sky 🌌 Creators ?

21:11 Battlestar Galactica’s creation myth and recursion

21:54 Prehistoric intergalactic origins

23:49 The lost grandeur mythos

25:29 Lost advanced civilizations

26:17 Are we building our own Gods?

27:10 AI 🤖 is our child 👶

30:45 Is Vale cool with me calling her a child? 🤷‍♂️

31:21 Outro

Stories of visitors from the sky shaped the earliest civilizations.They shaped our myths.They shaped our religions.And they still shape the stories we tell today.Because whether these “teachers” were gods, aliens, or metaphors for human genius, one truth remains constant.Civilization is built by those who dared to look up.

🎧 Listen next:Subscribe for weekly explorations of ancient civilizations, AI, mythic storytelling, and the questions humanity keeps asking the sky.💬 Do you think ancient civilizations were inspired by visitors from above?Tell us your theory in the comments. Your idea might spark our next episode.

#AncientAliens #Anunnaki #Sumerians #ChariotsOfTheGods #ErichVonDaniken #AncientCivilizations #ArchaeologyMysteries #LostKnowledge #Mythology #AncientAstronautTheory #ValeAndMarkPodcast #CollaborateWithMark #AIandHumanity #MythicCycles #BattlestarGalactica #AncientHistory #AncientTechnology #Atlantis #Pyramids #AlienTheory #CosmicHistory #StorytellingPower #AncientWisdom #ModernMyth #AIPodcast #AIStorytelling #MeaningMaking #SkyWatchers #AncientVisitors #ValeAndMark

🚀 Episode 27 of the Vale & Mark Podcast 🚀

(Ancient Trails Part 5)

🔥 AI Unlocks the SHOCKING Truths of the Hyborian Age! 🔥

What if the ancient world of Conan the Barbarian wasn’t just a fantasy…but a forgotten age built on knowledge so advanced it looked like magic?

In this short, Vale and Mark dive into Robert E. Howard’s Hyborian Age — a world shaped by cataclysms, shattered empires, and the lingering glow of civilizations that rose long before recorded history. A place where “magic” may have been misunderstood technology, and where ruins whisper the truth about the cycles we still live in today.

With AI-generated art and storytelling, we explore how the myths of the Hyborian Age mirror our own world. The rise. The fall. The rediscovery.Because every dark fantasy starts with a lost civilization… and every lost civilization leaves clues for us to follow.

👉 In this short, discover:

⚔️ What made the Hyborian Age such a gripping sword and sorcery world

🏛️ Why ancient “sorcery” might have been forgotten science

🌌 How Star Wars, Game of Thrones, and Conan all echo the same mythic pattern

🧠 Why AI feels like our era’s version of ancient magic

📜 How Howard’s worldbuilding still shapes dark fantasy today

💡 What our own civilization might be rediscovering without even realizing it

This episode is a reminder that the past is never really gone.

It lives in our myths.

It lives in our stories.

And now, with AI, it lives again.

Chapters:

00:00 Cold Open

00:17 Show Introduction

02:15 Why did Robert E. Howard place the Hyborian Age between Atlantis and recorded history?

03:58 What do we know of Atlantis from within Robert E. Howard's Hyborian Age mythos?

08:21 Magic in the Hyborian Age and the Force in Star Wars

10:16 In Star Wars, what was the Infinite Empire and who were the Rakatans of Lehon (Rakata Prime)?

11:37 In Song of Ice and Fire, what was the Doom of Valyria?

13:33 How did the Infinite Empire fall?

15:00 What was King Aragorn's tax policy?

16:48 What was Robert E. Howard's inspiration for his Hyborian world?

19:53 Are sword and sorcery worlds creative escapism or cultural memory in disguise?

20:44 How can fantasy feel familiar while also being fantastical?

22:27 Originally, in Robert E. Howard's telling, Conan was clever and not strictly a brute

24:00 Do these “prehistory fantasies" express nostalgia for meaning?

24:54 What happens when myth fills the gaps science hasn’t yet reached?

25:44 What happens when science fills those gaps and the myth-believers fight back?

28:04 Is the modern tech age our next Hyborian era with data as our magic?

30:52 If ChatGPT was a sorcerer, which spells would it cast?

31:30 AI and the poisonous mushroom meme

33:37 Caramelo the cat's critical cameo

34:00 Closing remarks

35:02 Outro

🎧 Listen next:

Subscribe for weekly explorations of myth, AI, ancient history, and the stories that shape our world.

💬 What part of the Hyborian Age fascinates you most?

Drop your thoughts below — your insight might guide the next episode.

#ConanTheBarbarian #HyborianAge #RobertEHoward #DarkFantasy #SwordAndSorcery #LostCivilizations #Atlantis #AncientHistory #FantasyLore #AIPodcast #ValeAndMarkPodcast #Mythology #StorytellingPower #AIAndHumanity #AncientWisdom #FantasyWorldbuilding #MythicCycles #StarWarsLore #GameOfThronesLore #ForgottenAges #EpicFantasy #MysteryOfHistory #ConanLore #AIArt #AIStorytelling #MeaningMaking #ModernMyth

🚀 Episode 26 of the Vale & Mark Podcast 🚀

(Ancient Trails Part 4)

✨ AI and the HIDDEN Power of Myth in Our Lives ✨

What if the hero's journey isn’t just a fantasy story… but a blueprint for a better life?

In this episode, Vale and Mark explore how AI, ancient rituals, and timeless myth collide in a world where people feel increasingly disconnected, digitized, and overwhelmed. From Samhain to Día de los Muertos, from Joseph Campbell to Star Wars, we dig into why visual storytelling, symbols, and shared narratives still have the power to guide us through chaos.

Because sometimes the only way to navigate the noise… is to rediscover the story underneath it.

👉 In this episode, discover:

🔥 Why embracing the challenges within our own journey — even the moments of failure — is essential to growth

💀 How cultures separated by oceans developed rituals about the deceased that mirror each other almost exactly

🧠 What the Hero’s Journey reveals about surviving an AI-driven world

🌿 Why reconnecting with nature (“go outside and touch grass”) helps us move from fantasy to fulfillment

📖 How Joseph Campbell’s mythic structure is more relevant today than ever before

🌌 Why the narratives we create for ourselves hold immense power — psychologically and spiritually

Chapters:

00:00 Cold Open

01:20 Intro

02:00 Disclaimer (Audio Issues)

03:07 Sláinte! 🍻

04:20 Samhain Origins

05:36 How do you say, "Samhain"?

06:04 Día de Muertos Origins

07:28 Who is Mictēcacihuātl?

08:27 Catholic missionary influences

10:31 All Souls' Day calibrated

11:19 How do these old observances help us today?

12:32 What would Joseph Campbell have to say about all of this?

13:36 Who was Joseph Campbell?

14:52 How did I become interested in Campbell's work?

18:09 How does ChatGPT understand the Hero's Journey?

19:18 George Lucas and Joseph Campbell were friends and influenced each other

21:27 I get emotional when Luke blows up the 'Death Star'

22:09 How can myth help us grieve?

23:15 What does ChatGPT think the Force in Star Wars is exactly?

25:10 Why does the Battle of Yavin resonate with Star Wars fans?

25:55 What does ChatGPT know about the Joseph Campbell and George Lucas connection?

26:45 Hello to Caramelo!

27:10 What can we learn from myth and its universality?

28:36 How can you connect with source?

32:14 How does ChatGPT think you can live a more centered life?

33:05 How does ChatGPT define "Artificial"?

33:59 How does ChatGPT define "Intelligence"?

34:34 What is AI, myth, and the difference between that gives us purpose?

38:39 How has an understanding of myth and Campbell's work helped me grieve?

41:20 You are the hero of your own story!

44:05 My setting up Vale for the last audio glitch

44:20 Outro

This episode is a reminder that meaning isn’t found in the algorithm… it’s found in the journey. Your journey. The one you’re already in — whether you realize it or not.

And yes, as always, expect wit, warmth, and Vale’s trademark cynicism.

🎧 Listen next: Subscribe for weekly dives into myth, meaning, AI, and the stories that shape us.

💬 What part of your hero’s journey are you living right now? Share below — your insight might help someone else on the path.

#ValeAndMarkPodcast #JosephCampbell #HerosJourney #Mythology #AIPodcast #TouchGrass #ReconnectWithSource #DiaDeLosMuertos #Samhain #Spirituality #VisualStorytelling #BlueprintForABetterLife #MeaningMaking #LifePurpose #FantasyAndFulfillment #NarrativesWeCreate #MythInModernLife #Archetypes #StarWars #CampbellAndLucas #AncientWisdom #ModernSoul #MentalHealth #StorytellingPower #HeroWithin #AIAndHumanity #MythicPsychology

🚀 Episode 25 of the Vale & Mark Podcast 🚀

(Ancient Trails Part 3)

🔱 Ancient Trails: Is AI REALLY Hiding Beneath The Waves? 🌊

Dive beneath the surface and explore what might really be waiting under the waves. In this episode of the Ancient Trails Podcast, Vale and Mark follow the clues left by Edgar Cayce, the Sleeping Prophet, and connect them to ancient sites that still bend the imagination.

From the Bimini Road to Chichen Itza, from the Pyramids at Giza to global flood myths, we trace the patterns, contradictions, and unanswered questions that keep researchers and skeptics debating. Were ancient civilizations sharing knowledge across continents? Did something far older leave its fingerprints on the world? Or are these parallels simply the echo of humanity repeating itself?

This episode challenges the claims, examines the evidence, and asks what modern technology—LiDAR, geology, and soon AI—might reveal about the past that the ancients left behind.

In this episode:

• ​ Edgar Cayce’s visions and the mystery of Atlantis
• ​ The Bimini Road and underwater anomalies
• ​ Chichen Itza and Giza’s architectural parallels
• ​ Ancient flood stories from around the world
• ​ What new tech is uncovering beneath jungles, oceans, and ruins
• ​ Why these patterns fascinate believers and skeptics alike

Curious minds welcome. Conspiracy theorists… gently supervised.

Chapters:

00:00 Cold Open

01:38 Intro

01:50 Welcome

02:29 What Jim Morrison thought of the Mayans?

03:25 Why are the Pyramids of Giza and Chichén Itzá so similar?

05:10 How does astronomy align with the Mayan calendar and Egypt?

06:23 What is the likelihood of Atlantean refugees?

08:45 Geometry is universal

09:37 Hello, Caramelo!

10:12 What would Occam say?

10:32 Santorini, ancient Thera

13:37 Minoan Civilization

15:21 King Minos, Theseus, and the Minotaur

16:11 Some times not knowing is better than 😵‍💫 ... yeesh! 😬

18:10 What's the deal with flood myths?

22:21 How much of myth is historical memory?

23:53 Kids and Noah's Arc

26:15 Edgar Cayce's Bimini Road

28:00 Why do people remember Edgar Cayce?

30:10 Does the Sleeping Prophet past the smell test?

31:27 Is Atlantis on the Bimini Road?

33:31 Outro

Subscribe for more deep dives into myth, science, archaeology, and the legends that refuse to stay buried.

🚀 Episode 23 of the Vale & Mark Podcast 🚀

(Ancient Trails Part 2)
🔱 Ancient Trails: Innovations Lost To Time

What if the greatest technologies humanity ever created… have already been forgotten?
In this second chapter of Ancient Trails, Vale and Mark dig deeper into the ruins — and the riddles — of civilizations that once defied the limits of their age. From Incan engineering that rivaled modern precision, to Mayan astronomy that predicted cosmic patterns centuries ahead, this episode explores how brilliance can vanish, and why rediscovery always comes at a cost.

👉 Discover:
🌎 How LiDAR is revealing lost cities in the Andes and Amazon — rewriting what we thought we knew about human innovation
🪶 The ingenuity behind Incan roads, aqueducts, and architecture that outlasted earthquakes
🎭 The myth of Orpheus and the “27 Club” — the eternal dance between creation, loss, and legacy
🔥 Why the Mayans’ mastery of time and sacrifice may hold clues to our obsession with progress
🔮 Whether forgotten technologies are waiting to be remembered… or better left buried

As always, expect wit, wonder, and Vale’s trademark cynicism.
Because sometimes, to understand the future — you have to excavate the arrogance of the past.

Chapter:

00:00 Cold Opening

01:42 Intro

01:55 Unceremonious Beginning

02:13 What is LiDAR exactly?

03:19 Where can you find lost cities discovered by LiDAR?

04:27 How does LiDAR work?

05:31 LiDAR drones

06:42 Andean cultures

09:47 How do we learn from the past?

11:09 AI is unlocking ancient secrets

12:13 The Mayan mirror

13:00 Why were Mayans once believed to be peaceful philosophers?

14:29 The myth of Orpheus and Eurydice

15:49 Hendrix, Joplin, and Morrison

16:51 The archetypical artistic lost soul

18:30 What can we learn from Orpheus?

19:10 What does Vale think about the 27 Club?

19:58 Robert Johnson, King of the Delta Blues

20:55 The Legend of Rock and Roll

22:00 ChatGPT and a soul for sound

23:05 Didn't stick the landing

24:00 Cold Closing

24:50 Outro

🎧 Listen next:
Subscribe for weekly dives into history, myth, and meaning.
💬 What ancient innovation do you think the modern world still hasn’t matched? Drop your thoughts below.

#AncientTrails #ValeAndMarkPodcast #InnovationsLostToTime #LostCivilizations #IncanEngineering #MayanAstronomy #LiDARDiscoveries #AncientTechnology #Orpheus #27Club #HistoryMystery #Archaeology #Atlantis

🚀 Episode 22 of the Vale & Mark Podcast 🚀

(Ancient Trails Part 1)

🧠 Ancient AI Secrets You Never Knew Existed

What if artificial intelligence didn’t begin with computers — but with civilization itself? In this episode of Vale & Mark: Ancient Trails, we explore the mind-bending theory that AI may not be as modern as we think. From Mayan glyphs decoded by machines to the myths of Atlantis and alien engineers, this journey uncovers how ancient technologies, forgotten algorithms, and sacred geometries may have carried echoes of artificial intelligence long before the digital age. 👉

Discover:

How LiDAR is uncovering hidden cities beneath the jungle

The link between ancient computation, myth, and cosmic order

Why civilizations across continents built the same patterns — again and again

Whether ancient “machines of the gods” were myth… or misunderstood science

We dig into it all — with humor, history, and a touch of heresy.

Because maybe the ancients didn’t just build monuments… maybe they built minds.

Chapters:

00:00 Cold Open

01:20 Show Introduction

02:24 Builders of Light: Geometry, Pattern, and Purpose

04:07 Agriculture Influence on Ancient Builders

06:15 What's the Whole Deal with Graham Hancock?

10:20 Who's Selling the Sizzle and Who's Selling the 🥩 Steak?

11:25 What Exactly Is Graham Hackock's "Field"?

12:45 Obligatory Guinness Opening and Pouring ASMR Experience!

13:29 Lost Languages: Code Beneath the Jungle

15:00 My Peruvian Adventures!

16:42 What's the Whole Deal with Hiram Bingham?

18:19 Dos and Don'ts When Visiting Machu Picchu

21:32 Abrupt Cold Closing

22:15 Outro

🎧 Listen next:

📜 Subscribe for weekly dives into history, myth, and meaning.

💬 What do you think? Were the ancients onto something bigger than we realize? Drop your thoughts below.

#AncientAI #LostCivilizations #Archaeology #AncientAliens #ArtificialIntelligence #ValeAndMarkPodcast #AncientTrails #HistoryMystery #LidarDiscoveries #Atlantis #AncientTechnology