Willowtree: Focusing on the quote about human fossils being rare, keep in mind the point many other people in this thread have made: That rare fossils must have come from an organism that was alive at some time or another, while evidence for other ideas about the origin of humans remain nonexistent.
Humans, in the great scheme of things, have not been around for very long. We can figure out how old the fossils are through radiocarbon dating, or if they are too old for that, potassium-argon testing can be used, as well as other methods. We also know they have not been around since the beginning of the Earth because they do not share the same layers as very old creatures, for example, trilobites, or dinosaurs. Because they have not been around for more than a few million years, we can assume that there will be fewer primate fossils than, say, trilobite fossils, because trilobites lived for a greater span of time than primates have thus far, and they existed in greater numbers than primates ever have.
There are other factors. For example, trilobites might be common because they lived in places where fossilization readily occurs, while the ancestors of humans lived in places where they were likely to decompose completely, or have their remains eaten by wild animals.
Also, Willowtree, when reading, always keep in mind that just because someone authored a book, they are not necessarily an expert on the subject of their book. They might just be looking to make money on a debatable subject which many people are interested. There is nothing wrong with that, unless they start using misleading information, or unless they start writing about things they know little about. I do not know much about Jonathan Wells, but if he writes something down it doesn't instantly become canon.
This message has been edited by Gary, 10-06-2004 02:29 PM