This morning I came across a 2018 article that I enjoyed rereading. Given recent dialogues at CFI and the political season of advocating for Democrats to create an internet forum, it was nice to read something about Earth, something that I know about and that takes me back to the wellspring of my blogging efforts. Defending Earth and the need for honestly facing physical reality, don't know why, but it feels a little grounding in the face of this horrific insanity Putin/Trump have unleashed on us.
Saying No to Reality
Peter Miesler, July 10, 2018
Recently, I was minding my own business listening to a fascinating talk on YouTube titled, “Rooted in Earth History: the Devonian transition to a forested planet.” It was about strategies that Earth’s first ground-hugging plants adapted to escape the confines of Earth’s surface. They did this in order to reach closer to our sun and further away from plant-eaters.
This led to Earth’s first forests, which in turn led to an explosion of new environmental niches for life to radiate into.
I learned some fascinating details regarding questions I’d been wondering about for a long time. The lecture increased my understanding of evolution on this fantastic planet, which has been a lifelong passion for me.
But my pleasant reverie was shattered by a YouTube comment that blind-sided me. One ‘Psalm1Tree’ wrote in all seriousness:
“There never was a Devonian period, just as there never was a Cambrian, Jurassic, Triassic etc. period. That’s because there never was a Geologic Column. That is a 19th century construct that has no data whatsoever to support it.”
