Dino DNA?

The death, this year, of Jurassic Park creator, Michael Crichton brought a couple things to mind: First, that I have all the movies and it would be fun to rewatch them; and second, memories of my first year in college... when I thought I wanted to be a geologist and discover ancient digs revealing earth's history.

That thought vanished pretty quick as the more I learned the more I became disallusioned with how much we really don't know and frustrated over how we got there, with nary an answer in sight. I dropped the class after one semester and long since put those frustrations behind me. But, these days I have too much time on my hands and I enjoy exploring useless topics. And so... here I go, off to my own little Jurassic Park.

Unlike Michael Crichton's, my Dinoland is not overrun by giant scaly lizards and winged meat eaters created by hollywoods finest. Instead, I chose to build it with what we really have .... a bone, billions of fossil fragments and lots of great imagination that creates myriad theories, which have given rise to exact replicas to more than 1200 dinosaurs of various sizes and temperments. Imagine my disappointment when I discovered that big T-Rex at the museum came from a manmade mold.

I'm laughing here, but check it out. That is really all we have. Well... I take that back. We do have some confirmed uncoverings of fraud. Disgraced scientists who got caught seeding digs to win research money. All this doesn't make my Jurassic Park nearly as exciting as Michael Crichton's, but it is interesting.

As I often say, I am inflicted with pragmatism. Back when I took that class, one requirement for success, according to my professor, was that I change my way of thinking. "There is no room in discovery for pragmatism," I was told. "Think circular," he said, "if you want to be successful".

Now... circular thinking is pretty simple. I liked that part because Im a simple kind of guy. The problem is, one gets caught up on the circumference of that circle going 'round and 'round and 'round. It's a real dizzy experience. If your ride happens upon a promising fossil you get to stop spinning and do some real work, figuring out what it is and how old it is, as well as the age of any surrounding earth. That's where the real genius of circular thinking comes into play. To determine the age of the fossil you need only determine the age of the surrounding rocks. To get the age of the rocks you simply figure out the age of the fossil. One confirms the other. Duh?

That task completed it becomes time to theorize a number of scenarios that paint a picture of what you think you found and how it lived. No problem. Just get back aboard that circular merry-go-round. As you're spinning, glance out at the world around you and select a currently living animal that closely fits the one in your fossil scenario. Reach out and grab it, like that brass ring... and presto, Gumbysaurus is born. The idea being that since we really don't have a clue, it's reasonable to conclude that like animals had like habits over the ages.

The only thing left is to put it all together, real scientific like, and present it to someone in authority who will buy into your dizzy creation. That shouldn't be too hard since he probably has his own circle. Like minds, spinning around the edge of a circle, reach like conclusions.

As if all this is not enough, all this likeness opens many doors to new and exciting dino scenarios that must also be true... at least from the confines of your circle.