Fossil Fakes

SLAM: debunk creationism, pseudoscience, and superstitions. Discuss logic and morality.

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Kitsune
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Fossil Fakes

Post by Kitsune »

I have been reading Stephen Jay Gould again. He writes about fossil fakes other than Piltdown Man. I also have ready that there is a recent fossil fake out of China which even fooled National Geographic.

I do not support Creationism in an way but I am surprised they haven't picked up on this in a more organized manner. Could they not argue that the transitional fossils we have are fakes in one manner or another.

Basically, how do we know that a small percentage of the fossils we use but are important are fakes? It is something which bothers me for some reason.

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Zixinus
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Post by Zixinus »

I guess the more important fossils are always looked up more closely then the less-important ones.
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Surlethe
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Re: Fossil Fakes

Post by Surlethe »

Kitsune wrote:I do not support Creationism in an way but I am surprised they haven't picked up on this in a more organized manner. Could they not argue that the transitional fossils we have are fakes in one manner or another.
No. For the hundreds and even thousands of fossils we have discovered to all be fakes, that would require a vast, enormous conspiracy to keep the evidence down. Of course, that's what some creationists believe in anyway, but to a more reasonable person it's ridiculous.
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wjs7744
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Post by wjs7744 »

Also, how many fakes have been made to support evolution theory? I would expect fakes are generally made for the personal fame of the scientists, not to disprove some tribal myth.
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