Was TOUMAI a real missing link?

[El_Jibaro]

[i]DOUBTS ABOUT TOUMAI

Keeping a Healthy Skepticism about Theories of Human Evolution

Did paleontology just fill in a gap in the human family tree? That’s what you’d think from reading the headlines this month. "A fossil unearthed in Africa pushes back human origins," reported The New York Times on page one.

But, as is often the case with scientific discoveries relating to the theory of evolution, you’ve got to read more than just the headlines. The details point to a much less triumphalistic picture.

The new fossils, unearthed by a French team in Chad, included a nearly complete skull, which has been dubbed "Toumai." Dated at between six and seven million years old, Toumai has been given the formal scientific name Sahelanthropus, after the harsh Sahel Desert where the fossil was found. Sahelanthropus has been classified as an entirely new genus of primate—something scientists do only when those fossils have features that don’t fit into any existing group.

That’s where the Toumai puzzle begins. Paleontology is an interpretative science. Fragmentary fossil remains don’t announce what species they are or their lineage. Paleontologists have to figure that out, if they can. Since nearly all fossil groups are extinct, there’s plenty of room for disagreement about the correct interpretation.

And that’s exactly what happened with Toumai. No sooner was the discovery announced than another French paleontologist, Dr. Brigitte Senut of the National History Museum in Paris, said that she doubted any link to humans. The features of the skull that the Toumai team had interpreted "hominid," Senut claimed, would be better explained if the skull actually came from an extinct species of gorilla. Toumai had a short face and small canine teeth, and Senut thinks that these are the characteristics "of the skull of a female gorilla," not a human ancestor.

On hearing of Senut’s dissenting interpretation, the Toumai team called a news conference to denounce her view. Such strong disagreements mark the history of paleoanthropology. It’s an enterprise where leading researchers have had long-running feuds with each other, and where conflicting scenarios for human evolution come and go with remarkable frequency.

Why the conflict? Well, think of the fossils themselves as bricks—the building materials for a scientific theory. These bricks are, however, too few in number and, in most cases, poorly preserved. Nevertheless, evolutionary paleoanthropologists want to make a building out of them, the story of human evolution. So they patch the bricks together with a lot of mortar of their own making.

With Toumai, for instance, anthropologist Bernard Wood of George Washington University said that the discovery may show many other fossil hominids are not human ancestors at all. Wood locates Toumai in evolutionary history by ripping out the theoretical mortar others have used in the past and adding some of his own.

What’s a thoughtful onlooker to conclude? That the fossils are real, but their interpretation is very much up for grabs. The theories of relationships between extinct groups have short lives. Keep that in mind next time you read the science headlines, or your neighbor tells you scientists have found the "missing link"—not so. It’s pure conjecture, nothing more.

FURTHER READING:

Claude Canellas, "Man or Gorilla?: Experts at Odds over Ancient Skull," Reuters, 12 July 2002 ( http://www.reuters.com/news_article....toryID=1196368 ). (Original story on Brigitte Senut’s differing interpretation.)

Bernard Wood, "Palaeoanthropology: Hominid Revelations from Chad," Nature 418 ( http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPa...18133a_fs.html ), (11 July 2002): 133–35.

Jimmy Davis and Harry Poe, Designer Universe: Intelligent Design and the Existence of God ( http://www.pfmonline.net/products.ta...A24AC03D402A11 ) (Broadman and Holman, 2002).

Charles Colson and Nancy Pearcey, Developing a Christian Worldview of Science and Evolution ( http://www.pfmonline.net/products.ta...A24AC03D402A11 ) (Tyndale, 1999).
Learn more about evolution and intelligent design by visiting the Discovery Institute’s web site ( http://www.discovery.org/ ).

[Edited by El_Jibaro on 29th July 2002 at 19:49]

[yautiawoman2]

[quote]Originally posted by El_Jibaro
[b][b][i]DOUBTS ABOUT TOUMAI
________________________________________________________

Listen, Pitiyankee, vendepatria before you can post on
here you should pass a test to see if you have the
brains of the Toumai ancient prehistoric cave and plains
(maybe he was not from the sabana, maybe he was from
some jungle in the jib juritungos of your poor, (by today's LD standards a minority borderline (learning disabled) ancestors.

Fist Question:

I.Which of the following best describes your view of the
current accounting scandals involving major American corporations? (Please choose only one answer)

a. Isolated incidents of wrongdoing involving a small number of corporations

b. Not isolated incidents, and may indicate a pattern of deception on the part of a large number of corporations

In 100 words or less explain why you selected a or b
(no ranting, please).

Second Question:

II. Do you have less trust in any of the following than you did before the scandals?

a. CEOs of major US Corporations
b. Major US Corporations
c. The Stock Markets of the US
d. The Stocbrokers
e. Republicans in Congress
f. George Bush
d. The Democrats in Congress

(Please don't bother to explain, just answer the truth, plain and simple!)

III. Compared to the average person, do you think the typical CEO is more honest and ethical or less honest and ethical?

a. More honest and ethical
b. Less honest and ethical
c. No difference

(Not sure or no answer is NOT allowed on this one).

IV. Please rate the moral and ethical standards of the following:

Scale 1. Excellent 2. Good 3. Fair 4. Poor

a. CEOs of major corporations
b. Stockbrokers
c. The newsmedia
d. Religious leaders
e. Accountants
f. Congress
g. The Bush Administration

V. Whom do you trust to handle the current accounting scandals in the USA?

a. George Bush
b. The Democrats in the Senate
c. Neither

(Explain in 50 words or less your answer)

VI. Do you think that the policy changes called for by George Bush to ensure that corporate executives behave responsibly go far enough?

a. They go far enough
b. They do not go far enough

VII. Do you approve or disapprove of the way George Bush is handling his job as President?

a. Approve
b. Disapprove

VII. During the next 12 to 36 months, do you thin economic conditions will get better, become worse or stay the same?

a. Get better
b. Become worse
c. Stay the same

Explain in 25 words or less


Re. The research group used for this test, they are all gringos (regardless of color, race, sex or sexual pref. or learning disabilities)

We will compare your answer to 1,532 US adults who reponded
(it was a stratified random sample with a margin of error at 3.1%) If you pass this one I will let you take the next one with a margin of error at .05%



Alcapurrias de Yautia, uhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm !!!!

[El_Jibaro]

[b][i]However, I did some IQ tests in the past and 135 was my quotient .

[yautiawoman2]

[quote]Originally posted by El_Jibaro
[b][b][i]However, I did some IQ tests in the past and the 135 was my quotient

Just goes to show how much you know about psychometrics, Jib Bruto y LD cave man!

If you believe all that hog wash, you should live by it
estupido!

Yautia

[El_Jibaro]

[b][i]But as you can see, an ALCAPURRIA came to rant and rave here.

Anyway, besides of the saliva foam from the rabid ALCAPURRIA creature, you should read the legitimate questions raised here on the TOUMAI by the French paleontologist, Dr. Brigitte Senut.

[yautiawoman2]

Originally posted by El_Jibaro
[b][i]But as you can see, an ALCAPURRIA came to rant and rave here.

Anyway, besides of the saliva foam from the rabid ALCAPURRIA creature, you should read the legitimate questions raised here on the TOUMAI by the French paleontologist, Dr. Brigitte Senut.

________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________

Now you just convinced me you gotta problem with reading
cause you are hooked on phonics, like the poor prez www
bush!

So here goes a few lessons on reading without using
hookkked on phonics!

First Le$$on (The First One is for FREE!)

Read the Preface (1 minute)
Present your perspective (for your bias 2 minutes)
Give a Summary (tambien se conoce como preview)
Make some Basic Distinctions on DEFINITIONS AND
ON READING AND COMPREHENSION (there is a difference)

Give a Summary of the first lesson (tambien se conose como un "review"; el proce$$o $e llama E$L (o y es el). accento en la o. (The Preview/Review Approach to ESL).

The Second Le$$on (We have to charge for the Second One)

Two Sides of Reading
Information and Uncertainty (or driving i.e. piloteando un
avion) while looking for the instrument panel or opting for paying attention
to the KKK dumb a$$ess (in the towers)who are supposed to be watching the radar screen (while eating an ARBY's snack sandwitch while other dum a$$ets on some stupit airports
(KKK Euro pendages) turning off the euro satelites so he/sje/they (forget the miscue); can fix the damned thing that is on the blink, (they got windows 95/98/2000/2001 with Tinker Air Force Monotoring (diz que) but they forgot to tell
you because he/she/they went to the me$$ hall to get some $hit on the $hingles...and the two planes crashed, and the innocent children died, and the Russians got pi$$ed, and the German gestapo in Germany has the black boxes to both planes, now under those conditions, what do I do about uncertainty and reading? Get the gist of the second chapter with you, jib/yo-yo, the second chapter should be a piece of cake, so pen - de - jo$$$$$$!!!!!!!!

(Now I know u is hooked on phonics oh.op/op/s)
Yautia, pi$$ed off in the Amazonas.com

So I am offering you free classes on Reading!

Go for itjib/[op/op]

Why? So you can READ and UNDERSTAND WHAT I MEAN
WHEN I say

Paz Para Vieques!
Por la Flota de la Victoria!
Por la Villa de La Esperanza!
Por la Asociacion de Pescadores de Vieques!
Por la Tierra del Indio Bravio!
Por la Tierra del Valiente Pescador!
Por la Victoria de todos los Pescadores de Vieques!
Por los Puerto Ricans en desobediencia Civil!
Por todos los Puerto Ricans en las Fuerzas Armadas que
quieren Paz Para Vieques, estan contra la violencia,
la pena de muerte, los abortos y la esterelizacion de
las mujeres de Puerto Rico por el imperio Yankkkee!
Por todos los que pelean contra el racismo y el facismo
Gringo en todo el mundo, pero especialmente en America!
Por todos los Puerto Ricans que cantan y cosinan en Vieques en los campamentos de desobediencia civil!

Por Carlos (Taso) Zenon, quien ya esta en Vieques, despues
de seis meses de carcel en la carcel federal!

and

Que Viva Puerto Rico Libre!

WHY? You ask?

Por eso, Por eso, Por eso!!!