[Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Fossil Called Missing Link From Sea to LandAnimals

[Ian]

E-Mail ThisFar be it for me to argue the science here, since I am not a scientist.  Maybe this is exactly what is being claimed.  However, I cannot help but think two things.

First, that it is unbelievably coincidental that this discovery was made at this exact moment in time - just when there is a raging debate about evolution, intelligent design, etc.  And while it is true that there have always been "creationists" and legitimate skeptics of various aspects of evolutionary theory, there is no question that the debate has raged far more intensely - and publicly via the media - over the past year or so than it did in the previous fifty.  So, yes, it becomes a truly spectacular coincidence that this discovery has been made at this particular moment in time.

Second, it is a given that the average non-believer (and even many believers) put "blind faith" in science, and thus automatically accept whatever "scientists" say, especially when there is a group of them and the claim is made in an "official" scientific publication.  This means that even if there are holes in this new theory - or even if the scientists are wrong about what they believe they are seeing in this "transition" fossil - the average person (especially non-believers) are simply going to accept it at "face value," with little or no way to determine the accuracy of the claim.

Peace.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: mblaxill at yahoo.com 
  To: mb-civic at islandlists.com 
  Sent: Thursday, April 06, 2006 12:33 PM
  Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com: Fossil Called Missing Link From Sea to LandAnimals


            
                
                   
                
                
             
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              SCIENCE   | April 6, 2006 
              Fossil Called Missing Link From Sea to Land Animals 
              By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD 
              Scientists found evidence of limbs in the making in the 375-million-year-old fish's forward fins. 
             
             
                 
                     
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