On 10/23/2011 3:27 AM, John R. Hutchinson wrote:
How accurately can one make a scale physical model of a skeleton and how accurately do they add flesh to it? How reproducible are those methods and how much investigator bias is there?
Vivian Allen wrote:
As we discussed in the paper, it is very difficult to remove the effects of subjectivity when reconstructing morphology, but computerised modelling will always have the advantage of an immediately accessible and quantifiable relationship to the fossil material, to a degree not present in all but the most sophisticated physical modelling techniques.
Might I be so bold as to propose a contest? Apply all the various techniques to a known sample of extant taxa, and see which one wins. Could be worked as a double-blind, and a prize could be awarded.
I won't mention beer as a possible prize, because I don't want to be seen as promoting a stereotype -- but that could work, I suppose...