Hardy ArdiI can hear the Creationists howl now. “It’s not a human. It’s a chimp!” In case you haven’t heard, scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, announced the discovery of a fossil skeleton pre-dating the earliest known hominid, known as Lucy. The newest find, Ardipithecus ramidus, AKA Ardi, was dated at 4.4 millions years, some million years older than Australopithecus afarensis, AKA Lucy.
What struck me about this announcement is that we continue to discover more on more fossils that are adding to the overwhelming evidence for evolution. Also recently was the announcement of more evidence of the link between dinosaurs and birds with the discovery of a four legged winged reptile. Still no missing link, the Creationists continue to rant!
“No evidence! Just a theory,” creationists scream. Well what about this latest find guys? Oh, they say, the dating is suspect - it might just be a chimp.
If the creationists are smart – I know they are not – they should start to back off of trying to strike down every new discovery. Science will continue to find more and more evidence and every time they do, the creationist will have to come up with another excuse. They need to learn to pick their battles. Oh wait, they have, they trot out their inane reasoning on an American public which is increasingly scientifically illiterate. They have succeeded in make inroads into schools about Intelligent Design despite the overwhelming rejection by the scientific community. Maybe it says more about the dunbness of our fellow citizens than the smartness of the ID people.