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Author | Topic: Trilobite, Eyewitness to Evolution | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tanypteryx Member Posts: 4597 From: Oregon, USA Joined: Member Rating: 9.4
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I recently read Trilobite, Eyewitness to Evolution by Richard Fortey, 2001. I found it to be a delightful read and I learned all sorts of new things about these fascinating fossil creatures and the worlds they inhabited for 300 million years. Many thousands of species have been described and more are being discovered every year.
Trilobites have played a major role in paleontology and have been used as index fossils correlating the ages of geological layers around the globe. They range in size from larger than lobsters to only a couple millimeters in length. As would be expected in a group that lasted that long the amount of variation is staggering; all the way from blind to calcium carbonate crystal for lenses in the faceted eyes, from plain and unadorned to covered with all sorts and shapes of spines. Fortey writes as much about the world they live in as about the trilobites themselves, the other sorts of life they shared the seas with. He uses his own experiences on expeditions of discovery around the world to tell the stories of the fossils and the types and locations of geological formations they are found in today and what those habitats were like when these creatures lived. He was a contemporary with Gould and Eldredge and describes how Eldredge's study of trilobites led him to the concept of Punctuated Equilibrium. He also explains Gould's errors in Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History in a way I had never understood before. Fortey tells an engrossing tale and describes the same excitement of discovery that I have experienced and observed in my colleagues in the study of dragonflies. I can recommend this book to anyone looking for an interesting read this winter.What if Eleanor Roosevelt had wings? -- Monty Python One important characteristic of a theory is that is has survived repeated attempts to falsify it. Contrary to your understanding, all available evidence confirms it. --Subbie If evolution is shown to be false, it will be at the hands of things that are true, not made up. --percy The reason that we have the scientific method is because common sense isn't reliable. -- Taq
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kjsimons Member Posts: 827 From: Orlando,FL Joined:
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Thanks for the review. I just looked and my public library has a copy of this book and so I'll mosey on down there today and check it out.
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RAZD Member (Idle past 1632 days) Posts: 20714 From: the other end of the sidewalk Joined:
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... so I'll mosey on down there today and check it out. good one. Libraries ... another socialist ploy designed to undermine capitalism and educate poor people ... Enjoyby our ability to understand Rebel☮American☆Zen☯Deist ... to learn ... to think ... to live ... to laugh ... to share. Join the effort to solve medical problems, AIDS/HIV, Cancer and more with Team EvC! (click)
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jar Member Posts: 34140 From: Texas!! Joined:
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RAZD writes: Libraries ... another socialist ploy designed to undermine capitalism and educate poor people ... Often funded by notable socialists like George Peabody, Enoch Pratt and Andrew Carnegie.
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kjsimons Member Posts: 827 From: Orlando,FL Joined:
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Thank you for recommending this book! I actually have a trilobite fossil that I bought years ago as well and I kept pulling it out as I read this book.
What cool creatures they are with crystal eyes (calcite). I was absolutely amazed that they had found trilobite larvae fossils and enough of them to actually map their development to adulthood and also use the larval stage to show how some trilobites were closely related even though their adult bodies were markedly different. It was a very interesting walk back in time.
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AlexCaledin Member (Idle past 640 days) Posts: 64 From: Samara, Russia Joined: |
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world
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Phat Member Posts: 18591 From: Denver,Colorado USA Joined: Member Rating: 2.7 |
Well well well...hello Alex. I agree with you that humans can be vain at times...they want to try and do everything themselves and think they will succeed without God...which I agree is vain. In science, however, they must have a go of it alone. It is not as if they can simply pray before conducting each experiment now is it?
Chance as a real force is a myth. It has no basis in reality and no place in scientific inquiry. For science and philosophy to continue to advance in knowledge, chance must be demythologized once and for all. —RC Sproul "A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." —Mark Twain " ~"If that's not sufficient for you go soak your head."~Faith Paul was probably SO soaked in prayer nobody else has ever equaled him.~Faith
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Tangle Member Posts: 9573 From: UK Joined: Member Rating: 6.2 |
Phat writes: I agree with you that humans can be vain at times...they want to try and do everything themselves and think they will succeed without God...which I agree is vain. I've tried many times to get you to understand things from an atheist's veiwpoint, but it seems that you simply can't. I'm not trying to change your mind about what you believe, just understand things from a non-believer's point of view. For atheists this god thing of yours is a pure invention; like fairies. Exactly like fairies. It's not vain to think you can manage without fairies now is it?Je suis Charlie. Je suis Ahmed. Je suis Juif. Je suis Parisien. I am Mancunian. I am Brum. I am London.I am Finland. Soy Barcelona "Life, don't talk to me about life" - Marvin the Paranoid Android "Science adjusts it's views based on what's observed.Faith is the denial of observation so that Belief can be preserved." - Tim Minchin, in his beat poem, Storm.
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Tanypteryx Member Posts: 4597 From: Oregon, USA Joined: Member Rating: 9.4
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Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit Thanks for the warning. I will never let you spoil me through your philosophy or your vain deceit. Now piss off.What if Eleanor Roosevelt had wings? -- Monty Python One important characteristic of a theory is that is has survived repeated attempts to falsify it. Contrary to your understanding, all available evidence confirms it. --Subbie If evolution is shown to be false, it will be at the hands of things that are true, not made up. --percy The reason that we have the scientific method is because common sense isn't reliable. -- Taq
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jar Member Posts: 34140 From: Texas!! Joined: |
The pathetic cry of the Christian Cult of Ignorance.
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Faith  Suspended Member (Idle past 1672 days) Posts: 35298 From: Nevada, USA Joined: |
Well well well...hello Alex. I agree with you that humans can be vain at times...they want to try and do everything themselves and think they will succeed without God...which I agree is vain. In science, however, they must have a go of it alone. It is not as if they can simply pray before conducting each experiment now is it? Why not? There is no success without God, what a strange idea. God rules science just as He rules the whole universe and every thing science studies. He knows the answers to all the questions, and if fallen humanity comes up with answers that disagree with Him, He's not the one who is wrong. Prayer for understanding of whatever science project you are engaged in would save you a lot of mistakes. Edited by Faith, : No reason given. Edited by Faith, : No reason given.
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Coragyps Member (Idle past 962 days) Posts: 5553 From: Snyder, Texas, USA Joined: |
I’ll bet that studying the actual science connected to yout science project will lead to a much better understanding than prayer will. I’ll go so far as to propose that you could pray until October for understanding of anti-Markanikov additions to cyclic alkenes, and that if you never cracked a book on it, you would still be looking through the weeds for understanding in November.
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Faith  Suspended Member (Idle past 1672 days) Posts: 35298 From: Nevada, USA Joined: |
Oh come on. Of course you study, the prayer simply guides and refines your study. I'm not talking about prayer for some kind of arcane knowledge out of the blue, I'm talking about studying with God's guidance.
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jar Member Posts: 34140 From: Texas!! Joined: |
Science does study with God's guidance unlike the Biblical worshipers. Science uses what God created not the Bible that fallen man made up and wrote.
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Faith  Suspended Member (Idle past 1672 days) Posts: 35298 From: Nevada, USA Joined: |
Since God created everything, by your reasoning nobody should ever get any of it wrong, but we get things wrong all the time and the history of science certainly shows that. No, I'm talking about literally asking God to guide our understanding. In my experience it makes a big difference.
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