Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution => Topic started by: Justin MacGregor on 02/10/2010 00:30:02
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Justin MacGregor asked the Naked Scientists:
Did dinosaurs and humans coexist as creationists say they did?
What do you think?
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I don't think any paleontologists have found evidence for the coexistence of some of the more spectacular dinosaurs and humans. However, the dinosaurs didn't all become extinct. Some of them evolved into birds, so, in a sense, you could say that they are still here.
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I’m no apologist for the creationists, but I’m not sure they necessarily claim humans and dinosaurs coexisted, but that they were both were created, (clue in the title) , by an "intelligent designer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligent_design)", aka God, rather than came about by evolution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_by_natural_selection).
If there was a God he could have created the dinosaurs, wiped them all out, then created humans.
[The intelligent designer must have been having an off-day when he put legs on this whale …
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc/section2.html#atavisms_ex1]
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"Creationist" is a good label for these people, since they create all manner of utter nonsense.
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The creation museum in Kentucky does have an exhibit with dinosaurs coexisting along with humans. I think the strain of creationists that are literalists think that the Earth and all creatures were created in 6 days, so that includes the dinosaurs.
All of this basically throws the fossil record out the window. Fossils are "a test from god" according to some evangelicals. The idea of a god that is trying to trick you and asks you to put reason aside is kind of disturbing to me personally!
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I don't think any paleontologists have found evidence for the coexistence of some of the more spectacular dinosaurs and humans. However, the dinosaurs didn't all become extinct. Some of them evolved into birds, so, in a sense, you could say that they are still here.
(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg692.imageshack.us%2Fimg692%2F3161%2Fdinobird.jpg&hash=9c9918390e2ba16d823000fd1c29dfc6)
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I’m no apologist for the creationists, but I’m not sure they necessarily claim humans and dinosaurs coexisted, but that they were both were created, (clue in the title) , by an "intelligent designer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligent_design)", aka God, rather than came about by evolution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_by_natural_selection).
Urrm, which creationists? The "young earth" people, who believe in the literal truth of a 6 day creation certainly do believe in the co-existence of people with dinosaurs (I think the dinos are supposed to have died out in Noah's flood). And there are an awful lot of them, according to wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Earth_creationism ) depending on the survey it's been estimated at between 10 and 45 % of American adults. They also tend to be profoundly anti-science. I find it kinda worrying.
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What has facinated me is that every culture around the world has a dragon in its history. Including the Australian Aborigine and the rainbow serpent.
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What has facinated me is that every culture around the world has a dragon in its history. Including the Australian Aborigine
In Australia the "myth" may have basis in fact ...
Australia has been home to the world's largest lizards, including the 16-foot-long giant (5 meters) called Megalania (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalania), once the world's largest terrestrial lizard but which died out some 40,000 years ago.
http://www.livescience.com/animals/091005-dragon-australia.html
Aborigines have occupied Australia for at least forty thousand years.
http://www.crystalinks.com/aboriginals.html
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We discussed this question on our show
That old can of worms. I believe, no. This question always reminds of that film 1 Million Years BC, the one with Rachel Welch, but dinosaurs are known to have become extinct about 65 million years ago. Humans turned up – well, all sorts of varying dates, but sort of very early humans, maybe 2 million years ago then more modern humans maybe 200,000 years ago, so no. Not much of an overlap at all. In fact, none.
Click to visit the show page for the podcast in which this question is answered. (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/podcasts/show/2010.10.03/) Alternatively, [chapter podcast=2819 track=10.10.03/Naked_Scientists_Show_10.10.03_7299.mp3](https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thenakedscientists.com%2FHTML%2Ftypo3conf%2Fext%2Fnaksci_podcast%2Fgnome-settings-sound.gif&hash=f2b0d108dc173aeaa367f8db2e2171bd) listen to the answer now[/chapter] or [download as MP3] (http://nakeddiscovery.com/downloads/split_individual/10.10.03/Naked_Scientists_Show_10.10.03_7299.mp3)