New evidence shows that Neanderthals appeared at least 700,000 years ago!

[TylerDurden]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3233727/Neanderthals-TWICE-old-thought-DNA-suggests-extinct-human-species-emerged-700-000-years-ago.html

I was always suspicious about claims that Neanderthals just suddenly appeared c.400,000 years ago, I had the feeling they were much older than that.

[lb_on_the_cb]

eh too many times scientists want to say they know this or know that about something that happened hundreds of thousands or millions of years ago and then a few years later you find out it was all bunk and the truth is complete opposite

the scientists i respect the most are the ones that say "we think" this or that happened

[cherimoya_kid]

eh too many times scientists want to say they know this or know that about something that happened hundreds of thousands or millions of years ago and then a few years later you find out it was all bunk and the truth is complete opposite

the scientists i respect the most are the ones that say "we think" this or that happened

Absolutely. The fossil record of early hominids is so sparse that it's pretty dumb to draw many conclusions. Hominids were not nearly numerous or old enough (as a group) to have left very much in the way of fossils.

[eveheart]

Most often, when you read the archeologists' findings, they do hypothesize, theorize, and interpret. It's the popular media that twist the words. My most-hated pop-media word is reveal, as though the heavens parted to proclaim the absolute truth.

I think it would be dumb if scientists didn't hypothesize and theorize and interpret the evidence.   Their attempts are limited by the minuscule bits of evidence they do find, but I'd rather hear some human fallacy than no attempt to make an educated guess. Even "the earth is flat" was a pretty good observation from the perspective of its time.

[TylerDurden]

Science and technology continue to evolve so that we get ever more accurate findings. For me, it is just lovely to see entire scientific theories from the past  becoming gradually wholly discredited as the evidence keeps on piling up.

[lb_on_the_cb]

Most often, when you read the archeologists' findings, they do hypothesize, theorize, and interpret. It's the popular media that twist the words. My most-hated pop-media word is reveal, as though the heavens parted to proclaim the absolute truth.

I think it would be dumb if scientists didn't hypothesize and theorize and interpret the evidence.   Their attempts are limited by the minuscule bits of evidence they do find, but I'd rather hear some human fallacy than no attempt to make an educated guess. Even "the earth is flat" was a pretty good observation from the perspective of its time.

i'm fine with them speculating and hypothesizing and theorizing as long as they admit that they don't know for sure whenever necessary

[eveheart]

i'm fine with them speculating and hypothesizing and theorizing as long as they admit that they don't know for sure whenever necessary

Seriously? You make it sound like scientists are one, big, infallible supreme body of consenting theorists. There is no "they," and scientists aren't under oath. They are just doing what scientists do, and hoping to get a little respect from their scientific community.

For example, look at the variation about health science in the US vs any other country. You will see practices in one place that are considered unsupported in another. Who are you going to get to "admit" that they don't know for sure, and how would such an admission benefit anyone?

[TylerDurden]

Actually, many scientists foolishly believe in "Science" with a capital "S" as replacing God. Years ago, I once on other forums tried to point out the obvious, that Einstein was a fraud and a plagiarist and a bit of a mathematical incompetent(plenty of evidence for that online, incidentally) and that his stolen theories were also flawed(an admittedly more controversial position). The others, some of them PHDs,  treated me as though I had blasphemed against a known prophet. Yet scientific theories get destroyed all the time. For Einstein to be fully debunked, we need another 500 years or more before the last scientist who  religiously worships him is dead.

As Max Planck said:- "Science advances one funeral at a time.”

[lb_on_the_cb]

Seriously? You make it sound like scientists are one, big, infallible supreme body of consenting theorists. There is no "they," and scientists aren't under oath. They are just doing what scientists do, and hoping to get a little respect from their scientific community.

For example, look at the variation about health science in the US vs any other country. You will see practices in one place that are considered unsupported in another. Who are you going to get to "admit" that they don't know for sure, and how would such an admission benefit anyone?

eh, i just notice some of them like to pretend they have all the answers when they dont. 

[cherimoya_kid]

eh, i just notice some of them like to pretend they have all the answers when they dont. 

Oh, like Richard Wrangham, Tyler Durden's favorite uncle?