Re: The (long) future of paleontology

[frank bliss <frank@blissnet.com>]

There is also a lot to be said for the process of actually being "in 
the hole" with the fossils.  No current technology has instinct, hunch, 
inspiration (or perspiration) and intuition.  Past experience is 
invaluable when "deciding" where to dig.  I walked up to a new outcrop 
once, studied it a bit, climbed up to a likely spot and sank my pick on 
the third swing into an isolated t-rex tooth (shattered it into 50 
pieces since rebuilt).  There weren't 4 other fossils come off of that 
outcrop.  Call it serendipity but I call it past experience combined 
with hunch which is something that no technology (given the size of the 
world) can accomplish within the next hundred years.  Even if 
technology continues to grow exponentially, it will be a while before 
self replicating nano-technology could cover "the area" of interest.  
There is nothing like good old footwork to cover lots of ground.  I 
have been closely studying my small 5 square mile ranch for the last 3 
years and I still haven't looked under every rock or on every exposed 
outcrop surface for microsite exposure.  It is a really big place out 
here (there).  Any technology by definition is expensive and to cover 
the whole place would be prohibitive.  Once you narrow your search down 
to say a particular outcrop, then you get out the GPRadar and check it 
out. Even seeing a few feet down would expand my horizons considerable 
since I really only visually search a two dimensional surface at any 
one time.  Seeing 3-D would be a bonus.  Currently, I have to dig to do 
that and then there is the 4th dimension of time involved.  Oh, yeah, 
the dirty fingernails too!

Frank (Rooster) Bliss
MS Biostratigraphy
Weston, Wyoming
www.cattleranch.org