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I’m not saying that they were killed by a pandemic. It’s an example of something that could happen that would never be detected by fossil evidence. There are p

I’m not saying that they were killed by a pandemic. It’s an example of something that could happen that would never be detected by fossil evidence. There are potentially dozens of conceivable events that could have caused extinction level events and taking a single theory and selling it as fact is wrong. We should be teaching it as a theory with pretty decent evidence but not much more than that because it’s impossible to say what really happened. Anything more than “this is a plausible idea with some pretty good evidence behind it” is science fiction, not science.

Jabbles 6y ago
This seems to be a much more reasonable stance, though just because you can conceive of something doesn't mean it should be taken seriously. Your previous comment included questionable phrases such as "any degree of certainty", "absurd", "just a theory".
- plank_time 6y ago
  My point is that we are talking about an event that happened 70 million years ago. Think about how long ago that was. The amount of evidence that is leftover after 70 million years of time passing is infinitesimally minute. To think we can come to any conclusion with the tiny amounts of evidence that remains or to clue together all the remaining bits and pieces of residual evidence is extremely arrogant. It makes for a decent story and hypothesis, and it sounds plausible. But to teach people that this is basically fact is absurd, which is my point. It should be taught as a theory.
  - Jabbles 6y ago
    You cannot dismiss entire branches of geology like that. The evidence is not "tiny" or "infinitesimal". Sure, it takes care, effort, and specialised techniques to find it, but it is there, and we need a theory that explains it. Much of the research into geology has been funded by the oil industry, who are enormously interested in knowing these kinds of processes, in the hopes it will help them locate it.
    - plank_time 6y ago
      Geology != figuring out how dinosaurs became extinct. The evidences that remains after 70 million years is orders of magnitude less than the evidence that has been destroyed over the last 70 million years. To take the morsels of evidence we have and think that paints a definitive answer is the height of human arrogance.
oivey 6y ago
Referring to scientific theory as science fiction is a bit strong. The extinction of the dinosaurs isn’t Star Wars. Can we ever know exactly what caused that extinction event? No. Did a massive meteor hit the earth that likely could have done it? Yes. Could some other coincident event also contributed? Sure. There is, however, pretty strong modeling-based evidence that the meteor strike alone could have caused the mass extinction.

Jabbles 6y ago

This seems to be a much more reasonable stance, though just because you can conceive of something doesn't mean it should be taken seriously. Your previous comment included questionable phrases such as "any degree of certainty", "absurd", "just a theory".

plank_time 6y ago
My point is that we are talking about an event that happened 70 million years ago. Think about how long ago that was. The amount of evidence that is leftover after 70 million years of time passing is infinitesimally minute. To think we can come to any conclusion with the tiny amounts of evidence that remains or to clue together all the remaining bits and pieces of residual evidence is extremely arrogant. It makes for a decent story and hypothesis, and it sounds plausible. But to teach people that this is basically fact is absurd, which is my point. It should be taught as a theory.
- Jabbles 6y ago
  You cannot dismiss entire branches of geology like that. The evidence is not "tiny" or "infinitesimal". Sure, it takes care, effort, and specialised techniques to find it, but it is there, and we need a theory that explains it. Much of the research into geology has been funded by the oil industry, who are enormously interested in knowing these kinds of processes, in the hopes it will help them locate it.
  - plank_time 6y ago
    Geology != figuring out how dinosaurs became extinct. The evidences that remains after 70 million years is orders of magnitude less than the evidence that has been destroyed over the last 70 million years. To take the morsels of evidence we have and think that paints a definitive answer is the height of human arrogance.

oivey 6y ago

Referring to scientific theory as science fiction is a bit strong. The extinction of the dinosaurs isn’t Star Wars. Can we ever know exactly what caused that extinction event? No. Did a massive meteor hit the earth that likely could have done it? Yes. Could some other coincident event also contributed? Sure. There is, however, pretty strong modeling-based evidence that the meteor strike alone could have caused the mass extinction.