Stone Tool 1.83M Years Old Discovered In Malaysia 200
goran72 writes with news out of Malaysia that archaeologists have announced the discovery of stone tools more than 1.8 million years old — the earliest evidence of human ancestors in South-east Asia. Researchers believe the tools were made by members of the early human ancestor species Homo erectus. The tools actually date as slightly older than the earliest H. erectus fossils, which came from Georgia and China. No bones of that antiquity have so far been found in Malaysia. "The stone hand-axes were discovered last year in the historical site of Lenggong in northern Perak state, embedded in a type of rock formed by meteorites which was sent to a Japanese lab to be dated."
Re:when does a stone become an axe (Score:5, Insightful)
But it's very hard to explain a whole bunch of tool-like rocks together in one heap as anything other than people making them. And that's what they found here.
Re:when does a stone become an axe (Score:4, Insightful)
That question seriously underestimates the abilities of both those who made stone tools and those who found them.
Re:Existential persuasions (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, they do have previously discovered examples of Lower Paleolithic tools to compare this find with. I think the original finds were pretty thoroughly (and skeptically) reviewed.
I don't think the comparison to Intelligent Design is very useful. In Intelligent Design, we know nothing about the Designer, the Designer's methods or the Designer's goals. There is no real experimental work being done.
In contrast, we have a pretty good idea of who made (or who would have made) these tools, what their goals were and what their methods were. Based on this, we can do quite a bit of experimentation to figure out what we don't know (or even whether or not they're tools at all).
Re:Existential persuasions (Score:3, Insightful)
I meant it merely as a rhetorical example, of people who are so motivated to find or justify a particular thing that it will pervert how they interpret what they find or observe. That type of personality is not absent in scientific disciplines, though it certainly should be. It all hinges on whether and how much a person becomes emotionally invested in some idea or thing. Remember the story of the Piltdown Man hoax? Even after the hoax was revealed, there were some "scientists" who for a time stubbornly clung to its veracity. I have a hard time granting such a person the title of scientist at all.
When Does the Carbon Dating Start?? (Score:2, Insightful)
Am I missing something here?
Re:when does a stone become an axe (Score:3, Insightful)
Yep, because training by spending years sitting at desk means that they are now Ivory members of the intellectual elite well beyond us unwashed.
Little anecdote for you: Two experts are walking along, and one sees a $100 bill in the gutter and he asks his friend "Is that a $100 bill?" to which the friend replies """well it looks like it, but if it were obviously someone walking by before us must have seen it, so the fact that they didn't take it proves that it must not be," and off they walk.
Science works through falsifiability and the idea of a null hypothesis, so if your going to criticise that stupid comment, do it based on the general lack of knowledge it displayed, but don't do it by attributing special value to archaeologists in a way that implies he is ignorant for questioning their dogma.
Re:Dinosaur apologizes! (Score:3, Insightful)