***Brontosaurus, huh? You mean Apatosaurus, right?***
I grew up using Brontosaurus. I also agreed with Stephen Gould in keeping that name (as well as Robert Bakker). Apatosaurus is fine too. But, it still doesn't change the irrationality on your part for believing this magnificient animal was on the Ark (along with its close relatives).
***Oh, and this is why they encouraged me to read 'The Origin of Spiecies', and to take local college class on Geology, which is, of course, evolutionary.***
Again, I don't know your deal, but maintaining one's parental strings on their kid is not best achieved by locking them up. Rather, if you go back and read Alexander's posts, you will see his opinion of the Soviet Union as allowing a great deal of academic freedom. What he refused to see was that this 'freedom' was not full freedom. Full freedom is allowing others to teach you at an early age and letting you adopt the current generation's thoughts on science, art, history, music, etc. What you were probably given, even if it was unintentional, was a Soviet-style education where by the time you reached an age where you would encounter Western secular beliefs you were already indoctrinated enough to dis-believe those parental teachings.
I was very lucky. My parents only told me what their values and beliefs were. My dad was a staunch evolutionist and my mom was a staunch theist. I got the best of both worlds. It makes a big difference in having a scientific and spiritual perspective to life. Oh well, like I said before, don't worry, even though you will never understand the wonders of science, you will have other things that will keep life interesting. You'll just be a close-minded individual who is always locked in to what you can believed. I certainly wouldn't want that for even my enemies, but I understand that this is your limitation. It's a disability, but there's people who have worse disabilities in life.
Harv |