RE: Review of T. REX -- BACK TO THE CRETACEOUS

["Stewart, Dwight" <Dwight.Stewart@VLSI.com>]

        -----Original Message-----
        From:   Dan felps [SMTP:edrioasteroid@hotmail.com]
        Sent:   Friday, October 23, 1998 11:43 AM
        To:     dinosaur@usc.edu; majestic_cheese@yahoo.com
        Subject:        Re: Review of T. REX -- BACK TO THE CRETACEOUS


         >do for a living. Anyway, daughter is obsessed with dinosaurs,
        >particularly T. rex, and has radical notions that T. rex laid eggs
and
        >then cared for them.  Dad replies wassamaddayou?  He goes on to say
        >(God help us) that without any evidence, all she has is a
*theory!*=20
        >Oh, is that all?  He evidently learned scientific terminology from
        >Anne Elk.

        Aughhh!!! This is the worst error you point out in the movie.  This 
        scene perpetuates the myth that theories are guesses with no
evidence 
        and makes people more vulnerable to the arguments of anti-science 
        bigots. Was this movie filmed in Alabama?

        Dan Phelps
        President, Kentucky Paleontological Society
        http://www.uky.edu/OtherOrgs/KPS/


        Hi, Folks!

           I've been quiet this week, working on a theory (& I'm not
kidding) & I just finished collating 200 pages of data to support this
theory AND my boss just told me that I need more data! :-)
        The public has some odd notions about what science is IN GENERAL
        And the media & the entertainment industry don't shed much light on
this.  When they were growing up, my children would come home with some
really bizarre comments & questions posed to them by other
        Children (once those kids found out MY kids had a parent who is
        A scientist!).  When I was young & idealistic I used to try to
explain exactly what it is we scientists do to people who are
        "anti science".  I now no longer bother.  It's just too stressful
attempting to pry a closed mind open.  So, I do my job, which does not
involve public relations in any way and I take public perceptions about
science & scientists with a grain of sodium chloride the size of a
Brachiosaurus.  

        JMHO;
        Dwight