Re: [asa] Review: The First Human: The Race to Discover Our Earliest Ancestors

>
> >This time period is tantalizingly close to what most genetic models
> predict for the
> divergence of lineages that ultimately evolved into humans and
> chimpanzees.<

Hmmm-the genetic models provide a more specific date than the data they're
based on. Add a statistically valid (i.e., taking into account all the
sources of error) error bar to the genetic dates, and a match becomes much
less surprising. Molecular clocks are often good examples of inexcusable
uniformitarianism. For credibility, they would need:

adequate calibration (one date, assumed to be without error, does not
provide this)

tests to show that the assumed model of evolution (often constant rate of
change) is supported by the data

accurate information about the past events that supposedly correlate with
the dates

evidence that the past events actually do show a statistical correlation
with the dates.

-- 
> Dr. David Campbell
> 425 Scientific Collections
> University of Alabama
> "I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"
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