Isn't that what they were saying when Wegner and a few before him suggested
continental movement? And in physics when they thought that they had the
laws described, and there was little to do but confirm them? They had no
idea that there could be any other way to look at things, and basically
denied the possibility.
New data, unexpected experimental results, changed the picture. What that
teaches me is that we probably don't know everything right now, either, and
perspectives may change still.
What I find
>interesting is that your final statement could have been said by someone
>claiming to have a perpetual motion machine that operates by principles not
>yet known to science. All one would have to do is replace "explains the
>earth's heat balance in terms we haven't thought of yet" with something like
>"explains how to to get usable energy from empty space".
>
I often have to explain to people (when they watch the water wheel and/or
the Foucault Pendulum in the Nature Center here) that there is no such
thing as a perpetual motion machine. They always seem to be hoping that
there is! If that is the way you see my viewpoint on the fossil record, I
appreciate your patient tolerance!
Karen