Aquatic Ape: Titanic Effect

NICHOLLS PHILIP A (pn8886@thor.albany.edu)
Sun, 1 May 94 04:20:50 GMT

David Greene (cm315c09@nova.umd.edu) writes in response to
J. Moore <j#d#.moore@canrem.com>:

>> People just don't want to do the work needed to make sense of human
>> evolution (you need to do quite a lot of research not only with bones,
>> but also with primatology and cultural anthro). It's hard to do this,
>> and folks just don't want to. The AAT, being made up (literally!) of
>> bits of bull____, is a whole lot easier to read and argue for.

> I believe the word you're looking for is "figuratively". Don't you
> just hate that people won't do the hard work and research needed to
> understand grammar?

There is an unwritten rule on the nets about responses that tend to
focus on spelling, grammar and punctuation. The assumption is that
you are running out of things to say and that such responses will
come back to haunt you.

>> As only one example, we see the recent posts in which Mr. Greene
>> argued that the waters are so safe and comforting, away from
>> predators, even though even a moments real thought would've made him
>> think of crocidiles (still common killers of modern humans in both
>> fresh and salt water) and of >course sharks, which kill so well and
>> so often even in very shallow >coastal waters.

> Yea, I only needed a moments *real* thought to make the HUGE mental
> leap from learning that such a communittee [sic] exists today to
> realizing that such a communittee [sic] might have existed before.
> Duhh!

Look before you make such leaps. There is a tremendous difference
between a "communittee" of modern humans with language and culture
and a "communittee" of proto-hominids, with neither.


>> Only by ignoring the obvious can the AAT proponents do
>> this sort of thing, but, believe me, many many people, even among
>> academics, make an art of ignoring the obvious.

> Look in the mirror buddy.

Gee, that ranks right up there with "Oh YEAH!" and "Says YOU!"
Modern humans are also able to go out to the African savannah fully
protected from predators for the same reason your favorite group of
swimming humans doesn't have to worry about watery predation. The
obvious point that you continue to miss (most likely because you leap
over them when you jump to conclusions) is that proto-hominids are
not modern humans.





-- 

Philip Nicholls                   "To ask a question,

Department of Anthropology         you must first know

SUNY Albany                        most of the answer."

pn8886@thor.albany.edu