Understanding science stuff

[The Jay]

Perhaps you could furnish us with some examples so we can avoid those pitfalls when later encountering Sagan's work? Because this is the first I've heard of it and it seems dubious that successive popularisers would miss such a teaching opportunity...

I completely agree, Sagan did a good job and was a pioneer in scientific popularizing. That is not a bad thing, scientific literacy is necessary for a voting public in any socioeconomic system, both now and after capitalism.

[Revolution starts with U]

Sagan once suggested that without chixilub, its entirely possible that certain dinosaurs could have developed higher cognitive abilities, even humanlike. Then a whole school of crotchety scrooges got their undies in a bunch.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

Sagan once suggested that without chixilub, its entirely possible that certain dinosaurs could have developed higher cognitive abilities, even humanlike. Then a whole school of crotchety scrooges got their undies in a bunch.

Oh, is that it?

I can't help but think that even if there was a species of intelligent dinosaur around the time of the impact, it's entirely possible that we could have missed them somehow, especially if they didn't industrialise.

Fossilisation is a pretty damn rare process, and the only reason we have so many fossils today is because there have been hundreds of millions of years for them to accumulate.

Deep time hides an awful lot of the past from us.

I also suspect that any intelligent dinosaurs, if they did exist, would be more velociraptor-like than humanoid. There's more than one way of being a biped.

[The Jay]

Oh, is that it?

I can't help but think that even if there was a species of intelligent dinosaur around the time of the impact, it's entirely possible that we could have missed them somehow, especially if they didn't industrialise.

Fossilisation is a pretty damn rare process, and the only reason we have so many fossils today is because there have been hundreds of millions of years for them to accumulate.

Deep time hides an awful lot of the past from us.

I also suspect that any intelligent dinosaurs, if they did exist, would be more velociraptor-like than humanoid. There's more than one way of being a biped.

I think that the point is that this would just be pointless speculation as such a thing has no real evidence like you said.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

I think that the point is that this would just be pointless speculation as such a thing has no real evidence like you said.

I disagree that speculation is pointless. It's useful to scientists and interesting to laymen.

To use the possibility of intelligent dinosaurs as an example, informed speculation can be used by scientists to formulate questions regarding the topic. If intelligent dinosaurs existed, what sort of thing would we have to look out for in terms of evidence? If we find such evidence, for example some really ancient pieces of stone that appear as if they have been worked into tools, then is there anything else that can explain what we see? If so, can we rule out those explanations?

I know of no evidence for any previously evolved intelligent species on this planet, but I don't think that means asking the question is a waste of time. It'd be nice to get the input of a geologist or paleontologist on this matter.