Re: The Potentials... for discussion

[Pieter.Depuydt@rug.ac.be]

Bernard wrote:
> Some heretical thoughts/questions:
> 
> - what % of all the big (>1m) vertebrates do you feel we have discovered 
>    for the secondary era ?
> - what could be found in the far future (65 millions years) from our
>    civilization if earth was shot tomorrow by a big meteor impact?
>    (I know some kind of answer for this one)
> - what could
>       1- be conserved
>       2- be in a position to be found after such a long period?

The July issue of American Scientist or New Scientist has a cover 
article about this issue I think: it is called "Fossils of the 
Future" or something like that.
 
> Conclusion: Do we have any reasonnable proof that a kind
>       of dinosaurian civilization never existed?

In paleontology, it is virtually impossible to "prove" that something 
has not existed; one can only relie on what actually has been found, 
not on what has not been found. But of course, all  
circumstantial evidence that we do have (fossil record, study of 
extant dinosaurs, ...) makes the hypothesis that dinosaurs somehow 
did develop a kind of civilization or culture an extremely unlikely 
one.

Pieter Depuydt