[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

"Those guys are surely on their way to being dinosaurs," he said of the mysterious dinosaur precursors. [underlining added]

Precursors? Can't they just be what they are? With that line of reasoning, I wonder what humans are on their way to becoming? We're obviously in a transitional stage, on our way to becoming - what?

[Red Badger]

...on our way to becoming - what?

Ignominious.....

[AnotherUnixGeek]

With that line of reasoning, I wonder what humans are on their way to becoming? We're obviously in a transitional stage, on our way to becoming - what?

Something determined mostly by us. Though evolution brought us to where we are, our own technology (specifically, biotech and nanotech) and our own choices will have far more to do with what we become.

And there is no "transitional stage" for any species - evolution isn't a process of refinement or improvement, simply adaptation based on inherited traits and mutations.

[Cheburashka]

All species are transitional. Until they become final. Immediately after becoming final they become extinct.

[Caesar Soze]

Precursors? Can't they just be what they are?

The article says that they're Dromomeron romeri, a species of basal dinosauromorphs, but I guess the writer dumbed it down to "dinosaur precursor" for the SF Gate readership.

With that line of reasoning, I wonder what humans are on their way to becoming? We're obviously in a transitional stage, on our way to becoming - what?

Logically, posthumans. I don't know what the binomial nomenclature for that would be--I think Eric Lensherr uses Homo superior.

[Old Professer]

Forage.

[gitmo]

democRats are becoming parasites.
Republicans are becoming their hosts.