Re: Bipedalism and theorizing... was Re: Morgan and creationists

Paul Crowley (Paul@crowleyp.demon.co.uk)
Sat, 29 Jun 96 11:46:54 GMT

In article <31D1EE3E.6A14@scn.org> bh162@scn.org "Phillip Bigelow" writes:

> (4) Hypotheses without attendant, plausable, testable explainatory
> mechanisms should be discarded as psuedo-scientific arm-waving.

This would rule out most hypotheses about past events. You'd have
to bin much history, and nearly all paleoanthropology and astronomy.
Are all theories about the Big Bang and black holes pseudo-scientific
arm-waving?

It's more commonly a choice between a range of scenarios, for none of
which is there much evidence nor any satisfactory test.

We just have to do our best to keep our feet on the ground and ask
in each case "Which is the most reasonable theory on the basis of what
little evidence we have?".

For example: Did early (bipedal) hominid females carry their infants
in the ventral position or in their arms or did they (like h.s.s.)
mostly leave them down in a safe place?

This is a simple question, for which it's probably impossible to
provide any generally agreed test. But the answer that you give
will determine the pattern of your views on hominid evolution.

Paul.