Re: The Last Dinosaur Book

[Philidor11@aol.com]

In a message dated 5/1/99 1:06:19 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
jhecht@world.std.com writes:

<<  The recent controversy over
 whether or not modern humans have some neanderthal ancestors has some
 interesting parallels with arguments that dinosaurs were anything but
 sluggish. >>

I agree with you about using dinosaurs and neanderthals as synonyms for 
obsolete; the reason could involve the fact that they are not human, so no 
one could assume the criticism applies to them.
One parallel between the human neantherthals and lively dinosaurs is that 
they contradict received wisdom.  Whoever defined scientific revolutions as 
involving new ideas that upset people appears to have been inspiring.  Do you 
think that the public might be perceiving antagonism, in addition to the 
long-known difference between scientific and everyday logic?