After 20 years of painstaking research on rocks, scientists have arrived at the conclusion that an asteroid did indeed wipe out the rulers of the Cretaceous — the dinosaurs. In other words, they have comfortably concluded that Man and mammals would never have taken the lead, if not for this K-T event 65 million years ago. I’m quite certain that proponents of Darwin’s camp would affirm this scenario, but ascribing mass extinction to a random space crash is to me, a contradiction of natural selection.
The reason?
The math behind evolution has confirmed that the idea of mammals supplanting the dinosaurs was unthinkable: The big lizards were far superior in terms of size, hunting abilities and metabolism. If there was no big catastrophe, a Pax Reptilia with intelligent beings may even be a possibility. The fossils, unfortunately, have given us a tragic take on their history. This has not only confounded the natural basis of evolution, but has compelled scientists to look towards “unnatural” or contingent causes.To prevent anyone from undermining the presence and primacy of mammals, the asteroid hypothesis has become the convenient magic bullet to explain the demise of the giant reptiles.
The K-T extinction is an exemplification of how science can be more of an ideological entity, rather than a logical one. Natural history is founded on one too many assumptions, as seen in the way palaeontologists have used empirical evidence to explain what may have happened millions of years ago. The paradox here, is that the evolutionary script has already been written, thereby leaving all other frameworks (e.g. intelligent design) closed to debate.
Given this context, isn’t it amusing that a rock from the heavens could end the rule of the dinosaurs?
