Posted on 09/17/2005 3:35:39 AM PDT by SeaLion
Evolutionists: consistent with basic ToE, but a 'course-correction' revision in order, perhaps?
Creationists: perhaps we can have revised illustrations in some of the comics, so that terrified cavemen are depicted fleeing from feathered dinosaurs? Artistic licence is permitted for colour of the plummage, that won't conflict with current scientific evidence. :-)
Cordially
Not earth-shattering, but interesting IMHO
Yet somehow I find myself strangely not compelled to give "fluffy" a hug.
What part of evolution would give them feathers in a warm, humid jungle-like climate?
It's important to note that the actual "theory of evolution" has to do with *how* things evolve and speciate (i.e., the actual biological processes), whereas the sorts of "course-corrections" described in this article don't affect the *theory*, it just adjusts the *history* of which evolutionary changes occurred when.
It's similar to how your mechanic's initial estimate of why your car has stopped running may be found to be wrong once he opens up the engine and looks inside, but that still doesn't count as a change in the science by which internal combustion engine operates, or the theories in physics (thermodynamics, gas laws, etc.) which are involved.
Likewise, many people mistake revisions to life's "history book" as being changes to the "theory of evolution" itself, when in most cases it isn't at all, nor do such discoveries (like feathered dinosaurs) require any change to the theory whatsoever.
At the risk of oversimplification, evolutionary theory deals with "how and why", whereas evolutionary histories deal with "where and when".
Rosie O'Donnell
No "flaccid plumage" there, eh?
Sorry, but I'm hitting "abuse" on that post. Barf.
First, not all dinosaurs lived in "humid, jungle-like climates". Earth has always had a wide range of climates, even when it was on the whole warmer or colder than it is now.
Second, ectotherms ("cold-blooded" animals, although that term is now out of favor) always have problems with regulating their temperatures. Anything that helps keep a more *steady* internal temperature is an advantage, since fluctuating temperatures cause all sorts of problems, biologically. Even in a warm climate an "adjustable insulation" like feathers would help increase heat retention when the temperature drops, and allow more heat out when the temperature rises.
Hug a 5 or 6 ton carnivorous chicken?
Nope. Neither would I. Of course, I dont go into the woods to feed the bears or play with the cougars either.
LOL!
[well played, old chap!]...;))
marker
I think it is interesting that in the minds of the people in this article, there can be no middle ground. All dinosaurs are now warm-blooded and feathered. Not some. Not most. Not just the ones located in the volcano. All. And when the advocates for this position get to a reporter, this is not stated as a theory. It is stated as a fact, which of course, in scientific method, it is not.
I wonder if that means that the fossilized skin/scale prints we were shown for all those years are hoaxes.
Believe what you will, but this is a poor example of scientific method in action.
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