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Sex, Drugs, Disasters, and the Extinction of the Dinosaurs
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Sex, Drugs, Disasters, and the Extinction of Dinosaurs
Peyton, Subhash, Ella, Shahm, Myles, and Sruti
By: Stephen Jay Gould
02/01/2019
Summary
Summary
The overall essay is about scientific inquiry/hypothesis vs. useless speculation. In order to acknowledge the differences, Gould analyzes and classifies different theories behind dinosaur extinction as either one or the other.
SEX theory
SEX
This theory addresses worldwide fluctuation in temperature that could have possibly prevented dinosaurs from reproducing, thus leading to their extinction.
DRUGS Theory
DRUGS
This theory explains how angiosperms, which most mammals avoid due to bitter taste, have chemicals that the dinosaurs' immune systems and livers cannot detoxify. However, since the dinosaurs may not have been able to detect the bitterness, they continue to eat it and died off.
DISASTER Theory
DISASTER
This theory (the most widely known) elaborates on how a large cloud of dust formed in the atmosphere after an asteroid hit Earth’s surface. This dust cloud blocked out the sunlight, causing temperatures to drop drastically and made photosynthesis impossible, eventually leading to dinosaur extinction. Those that survived had to endure unlivable conditions and went extinct later.
THESIS
THESIS
By primarily explaining that science is a way to gain knowledge and how the methods of scientists have to be clear, Gould explores and deducts three possible theories hypothesizing the extinction of dinosaurs through critical analysis of speculations and if they are well defended.
SOAPSTONE
elements
SOAPSTone
Speaker
Stephen Jay Gould
S
-He was born in New York City, 1941. He attended Antioch College and Columbia University.
-He made science accessable to the public with his multiple essays and taught biology, geology, and history of science at Harvard.
-He became one of the most well-known science writers of the 20th century.
- He won multiple awards for his writing and his novels.
-Gould died in 2002 at 60 years.
Occasion
O
Time and Place of the piece- an excerpt from the Flamingo Smile (written in 1985)
This work is a culmination of his 20 plus years of writings and educational background from teaching various sciences. Ideas also include Darwinism concepts.
He writes as a science teacher who is concerned with pseudo science being represented (and generally accepted) as legitimate, encouraging the reader to look at the criteria and think logically about what is being claimed.
Evidence
"My greatest unhappiness with most popular presentations of science concerns their failure to separate fascinating claims from the methods that scientists use to establish the facts of nature" (Gould 2).
Evidence
Audience
A
-This essay is aimed more towards mature or older audiences (teens and older) due to the topics discussed and the maturity required to converse this essay. It is also more specifically steered towards the scientific communities and those scientists and historians that study and care about the topics of how life evolved.
Evidence
"Though he [Gould] wrote scholarly articles and taught biology, geology, and history of science courses at Harvard, his essays, including a long running column for Natural History magazine, made science accessible to a popular audience."(304)
PURPOSE
Informs the differences between scientific hypotheses and speculations
Hypotheses
P
Observations by scientists that incite useful discussions that further knowledge
Speculation
These are possible theories that cannot not be furthered because they are not testable
Sex theory
We cannot determine if this theory is correct or not.
SEX Theory evidence
"It is difficult to advance any definite arguments against this hypothesis."
While this is true, it is equally difficult to prove this hypothesis.
Drug theory
"But Siegel's speculation cannot touch the extinction of ammonites or ocean plankton."
The Dinosaur extinction was a mass extinction and the theory of poisonous and harmful plants only affects the dinosaurs.
DRUG Theory evidence
Disaster theory
DISASTER Theory evidence
"The Alvarez hypothesis bore immediate fruit...... it led to geochemists throughout the world to examine other sediments of the same age."
This theory is provable and can cause helpful discussions.
Subject
S
1. The extinction of dinosaurs and the various phenomena that may have caused it
2. The separation of scientific hypothesis from hasty assumptions and speculations by providing concrete evidence
Evidence
Evidence 1
"If you talk about asteroids, dust, and darkness, you tell stories no better and no more entertaining than fried testicles or terminal trips. It is the Iridium-the source of testable evidence-that counts and forges the crucial distinction between speculation and science." (Gould 23)
Evidence
"Gould attempts to explain why dinosaurs disappeared, speculating on the chain of events that most likely led to their extinction" (Gould 304).
Evidence 2
Tone
Tone
~Analytical
~Critical
Gould mostly comes off as analytical for his tone because he contemplates and breaks down each of the three separate theories and goes into depth about each.
By analyzing each of the theories critically, he illustrates the flaws within two of them and why the other is correct through the evidence he has provided.
Evidence
Evidence
"All three theories, testicular malfunction, psychoactive overdosing, and asteroidal zapping, grab our attention mightily... Yet one represents expansive science, the others restrictive and untestable speculation. The proper criterion lies in evidence and methodology; we must probe behind the superficial fascination of particular claims" (Gould 17).
Discussion Questions
Discussion
Questions
Our Answer to #1
QUESTION 1
Which theory do you feel is the most interesting? Why?
We believe the Disaster theory is the most accurate as Gould provides the most evidence and statistics to this theory. We believe it makes the most overall sense compared to the speculations made with the sex and drug theories.
Our Answer to #2
Gould claims science is "good" when it allows for positive refutation.He says how scientific hypotheses should be generous and expansive , suggesting connections and implication to other subject.
"Bad science," on the other hand, is restrictive and does not lead to anywhere.
I think our general knowledge in science tends to be definitive, leaning towards the "bad" aspects.
QUESTION 2
How does Gould define "good science"? With this in mind, do you think our general knowledge of science is "good"?
QUESTION 3
How does Gould's structure affect his message? Do you think it is effective or not?
Our Answer to #4
Gould explains how the ultimate reason for dinosaur extinction relies on several different factors with other marine and terrestrial groups. We tend to narrow down specific explanations for catastrophes when, in reality, there is a bigger picture behind the actual situation.
QUESTION 4
What does Gould mean in paragraph 5 when he says, "There is no separate problem of the extinction of dinosaurs"?
Thank you for listening and participating...