mikey
this stuff is great, laughable but great; can't let this one pass w/o comment...
i'm gonna try and quote some excerpts below (in order so that you'll be able to refer back the original and locate the context) and follow each with my own jazz, eh
What began as the excavation of a medieval town has turned into a pivotal site for our understanding of human evolution
i love these grand claims ("pivotal site"), which of course makes the last several pivotal sites less pivotal and requires us to rethink and redraw the imaginary lines of alleged ancestry and descent...not to mention scrambling the previously assumed dating scenario
Most probably, we are on the threshold of a profound transformation of our understanding of early hominin evolution
oooo...we've got a basketful of powerful neuro/phsycolinguistic word images goin' on here, eh (threshold, profound transformation)
but how many times have we heard virtually the same story before...almost everytime an alleged "ancestor" is discovered (ie, "we're going to have rewrite the story of human evolution" or "this will radically change our understanding of human evolution as we now know it" or somesuch yadayadayada)
the necessary inference here is that evolution is assumed to be a fact when in fact the only real fact about evolution is that it is not a fact
and then of course while we are assured that evolution is a fact as sure as the earth orbits the sun, we are careful to preface this latest claim with the safety net phrase "most probably" so that we can feel good about changing the story again when the next "ancestor" discovery is made
At the heart of the tale of this first transcontinental migration lies the assumption
tale indeed, as in fairy, made up, imagined
and then there is the *assumption*...and therein lies the rub...we scream and restate ad nauseum: fact, fact, fact, fact, but we forget the myriad assumptions upon which the so-called fact is predicated
only if all of the assumptions are true/real can we reasonably conclude that evolution is a fact, and even then it would not *necessarily* follow but would at least be reasonable...the problem is that so many of the assumptions associated with evolution have been shown to be in conflict with the evidence a/o reality...but we go blissfully on in our willful ignorance
This idea has a powerful romantic appeal, suggesting that exploration and settlement are primordial and defining human instincts
he he he hooo, beeeeautiful
so even though the out of africa story was touted as fact (and this has long been debated but that didn't stop lots of folks from screaming fact anyway) apparently it wasn't based on fact or facts or objective evidence but rather on subjective appeal...and *romantic* appeal at that
yeeeah, baby; go 'head on wit' yo' good se'f
and then we have "suggesting" rather than assuring...but don't worry, it's still a fact :-)
