Re: Stratigraphy, biogeography & cladograms

[GJ Dyke <Gareth.Dyke@bristol.ac.uk>]

>>And if they *all* think feathered flight evolved in multiple sublines
simultaneously, then God help palaeontology.>>

I refer you to a quote that I think can be attributed to a paper by
Nixon and Carpenter, 1996 _On simultaneous analysis_ Cladistics
12:221-241 - "Those who contrast _truth_ with explanatory power either
misunderstand the difference between science and metaphysics, or have
divine insight" ..... in short, we do _not expect_ to know the truth
about the origin, and or, evolution of birds - the cladistic method,
whether or not you choose to accept it, provides us with hypotheses that
are, at least, testable.

gareth 


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Gareth J. Dyke
Dept of Earth Sciences
University of Bristol
Wills Memorial Building 
Queens' Road
Bristol BS8 1RJ UK

www: http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/

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