

Prehistory’s Brilliant Future - dnetesn
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/opinion/sunday/prehistorys-brilliant-future.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=c-column-top-span-region&region=c-column-top-span-region&WT.nav=c-column-top-span-region&_r=0

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igravious
"In other words, what we know about the past signals that we are in a truly
traumatic phase of the planet’s history that could affect much of life on
Earth, including our species."

'traumatic' is an emotive non-scientific word. From who's perspective? From
this one person? From the perspective of humanity? The biosphere? The Earth?

Were the previous mass extinction phases 'traumatic'? If not, why not? If it
were not for those previous phases then perhaps evolution would never have
come up with talking monkeys. And what if the by-product of our current mass
extinction phase is something that could not have happened without this mass
dying off. What then?

Maybe if you want to be a palaeontologist actually use scientific language
rather than non-scientific judgements.

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jschwartzi
If we had actually been alive to witness those past mass extinctions, we would
likely have been traumatized by the disappearance of so much life from the
face of the Earth, and all in one relatively short period of time.

