Faulty Thinking

I came across a great example in recent days of ‘faulty thinking’ brought about by evolutionary bias. I was listening to a ‘scientist’ being interviewed for the BBC about the discovery of a Plesiosaur Fossil in Kansas USA. The interesting thing about this 5m long fossil was the fact that it has the fossil of an unborn infant intact inside. This discovery has rewritten the science books, as it was formerly believed that, like most reptiles, the Plesiosaur laid eggs.

Having had the assumption about how the Plesiosaur had its young ‘blown out of the water’ the gentleman continued to trot out other assumptions based on evolutionary bias. The one that particularly amused me was his assumption that the Plesiosaur was a predator based on the structure of its jaw. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not claiming any great knowledge about large reptiles, the Plesiosaur may well have been a predator but to make that judgement based solely on its jaw structure is ‘faulty thinking’. The man actually said ‘it was obviously a predator based on its jaw structure’. I’m afraid the only thing that is obvious from the fossil is the fact that it ‘obviously had a big mouth’. The Panda is an animal with a jaw structure similar to a Lion, and yet, unlike the Lion it is not a predator unless you count Bamboo shoots as prey. Evolutionary thinking is based upon assumption after assumption. I was always taught that to ASSUME only makes an ASS of U & ME.

Location! Location! Location!

I was kind of hoping that the interviewer was going to ask a question as to where the fossil was found, but sadly he didn’t. The Plesiosaurs fossil was excavated from a Ranch in Kansas, USA. For those of you who are not familiar with US geography the state of Kansas is a land locked state, right in the centre of the USA, half way between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
What was the fossil of a giant sea creature doing in the middle of North America, over 1000 miles from the Ocean?

I just wonder was there some kind of a global catastrophe, involving water, where a massive sea creature got deposited on the land and was covered in layers of mud. You know, like the record in Genesis.

‘17And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. 18And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. 19And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. 20Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. 21And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: 22All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. 23And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. 24And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.’ Genesis 7 v17-24