At 11:22 AM 2/14/99 -0800, you wrote:
Pim: Let me see if I understand the whole issue. Data (speculations based on
data) suggest that there was no Cambrian explosion after all,
Art: No. I know of no data that suggests that. A comparison of differences
between modern organisms at the genetic level, using the most sophisticated
techniques available has suggested that IF naturalistic evolution is the
explanation for origins, then the fossil record of the first complex animal
forms, including many soft bodied forms, in excellent preserved condition
cannot represent the early history of complex life forms on the earth; i.e.
the fossil record does not anywhere near represent the true evolutionary
history of life on earth, and we should find a billion years of fossil
record in the Precambrian preceding the first appearance of the metazoan
fauna of the Cambrian.
So 1) The fossil record is incomplete 2) the comparissons are incorrect. So the issue is far different than your "purple monster".
other data (such as fossils) do not (yet) support this idea.
Yes that is correct.
Pim:"So there appears to be a conflict. The fossil data might be complete and
the speculations are wrong or the fossil data is incomplete and the
speculations are right. Both positions are based on a scientific approach,
unlike the purple monsters you alluded to"
Art: Speculations about the existence of extraterrestrials are so far at least,
relegated to the realm of science fiction. Perhaps that is where the
speculations based upon the extrapolation of modern life forms a billion
years before the first metazoan fossil organism belong also. It is at
least overreaching the data by a billion years.
Perhaps, but as you said, the speculations are not completely unsupported by reality. So perhaps they belong in the realm of science fiction, just as cold fusion. But that realm was reached after science failed to reproduce or find evidence to support such ideas. You seem to believe that only the fossil record constitutes data.