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From: heller@shell.UUCP (Don Heller)
Newsgroups: net.origins
Subject: Re: Catastrophic Evolution/ more on large animals and extinction
Message-ID: <129@shell.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 12-Aug-85 10:36:08 EDT
Article-I.D.: shell.129
Posted: Mon Aug 12 10:36:08 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 14-Aug-85 01:43:41 EDT
References: <367@imsvax.UUCP>
Organization: CS Dept., Shell Development Co., Houston
Lines: 30

Mr. Holden overreacts.

>                I love  it!  Someone  from outer  space who heard this would
>           naturally assume Mr. Heller  had killed LOTS of mastodons  and no
>           longer regarded  it as  a challenge.

I would be *delighted* for someone from outer space to make this assumption.
It's wrong of course, but how often do we get to argue with such creatures?

>           In real
>           life, of  course, a  thirty lb. boulder  falling on  a Mammoth or
>           Imperial elephants head MIGHT have gotten  his attention.  Twenty
>           people throwing  rocks at  him would  undoubtedly have gotten him
>           pissed off.

Getting the [mastodon|elephant|...] pissed off is the whole point.  Then you
can get it to do something stupid, like killing itself in the fall off a cliff.

There was some other hoopla about primitive tribes living in harmony with
nature and not being dumb enough to wipe out a whole species.  Mr. Holden
underestimates the abilities of our ancestors.
-- 
Don Heller
Computer Science Dept.
Shell Development Company
P.O. Box 481
Houston, Texas 77001

713-663-2341
{ihnp4, pur-ee, ut-sally}!shell!heller