Icke believes that the brotherhood uses human anxiety as energy and that the Archons keep humanity trapped in a "five sense reality" so they can feed off the negative energy created by fear and hate. In 1999 he wrote, "Thus we have the encouragement of wars, human genocide, the mass slaughter of animals, sexual perversions which create highly charged negative energy, and black magic ritual and sacrifice which takes place on a scale that will stagger those who have not studied the subject." Icke proposes that human sacrifice "to the gods" in the ancient world was for the reptilians' benefit, especially sacrifice of children, because "at the moment of death by sacrifice a form of adrenaline surges through the body, accumulating at the base of the brain, and is apparently more potent in children", claiming "this is what the reptilians and their crossbreeds want". He suggests that these sacrifices continue to this day. He also claims the reptilians and their hybrid bloodlines engage in paedophilia and cannibalism.