smedz
Junior Member
Posts: 195 
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Post by smedz on Oct 4, 2019 2:13:08 GMT 5
Skepticism, the one thing many people may see as a bad thing. In reality however, skepticism is a skill one should be proud of as it keeps one from being fooled. Here you can share something you're skeptical of and why if you want. I'll start.
I'm very skeptical of the old accounts of dholes killing tigers (long answer).
I'm skeptical of trophy hunting in Africa being good for conservation (is there a thread on that subject?)
And of course, I'm skeptical of the existence of tons of cryptids
I'm skeptical of reports of tigers killing fully grown elephants. The tiger is a powerful hunter, and can surely kill a juvenile elephant. An adult is just out of the question, a big lion pride has much respect for a healthy bull elephant. So why should the solitary tiger be any different?
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Post by creature386 on Oct 4, 2019 2:16:12 GMT 5
Skepticism is an important part of the scientific method, but also something deeply uncomfortable to many people. Let's not even get started about philosophical skepticism where you aren't allowed to believe anything (other than that you exist).
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Post by dinosauria101 on Oct 4, 2019 2:30:41 GMT 5
Yes, a tad of skepticism has helped me quite a bit
-It's helped me rebut excessively low figures for dinos on Discord
-Regarding the MCF-PVPH-108.145 specimen of Mapusaurus, Franoys' chart was brought up too. I looked a bit closer and it looks like they arbitrarily lumped together more or less every 12 plus meter Mapusaurus to get the 12.47 meter, 7 ton animal. But I have reason to believe in the 13.6 meter, 8.5 ton MCF-PVPH-108.145 - the fact that most theropods in general range a lot in weight, and the overgeneralization of that skeletal
There are more. Will post them when I can
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Post by creature386 on Oct 4, 2019 14:13:32 GMT 5
Just a little advice for boasting about your personal skepticism in the future though:
Your claims of skepticism are most authentic when you are skeptical about something you would like to be true (or at least don't want to be wrong). If you are a huge dinosaur fan, questioning too low estimates for your favorite dinos is not a good example.
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Post by dinosauria101 on Oct 4, 2019 15:26:52 GMT 5
@creature
Yes, I know that.
I have plenty more skepticism under my belt but it's probably irrelevant to the context of this forum so I'll refrain from posting it
Besides, posting this stuff is not to glorify dinosaurs. It's a legitimate skepticism.
Seriously, that really IS what Franoys seemed to be doing. Lumping together everything at and above 12 meters, getting 12.47 for everything, and just calling it a day.
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Post by creature386 on Oct 4, 2019 15:49:27 GMT 5
Since this is in general discussion, I wondeer if this thread is supposed to be about zoology related skepticism or about skepticism in general.
I'll let smedz enlighten us.
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Post by jdangerousdinosaur on Oct 4, 2019 16:31:39 GMT 5
What else has Franoys got as 12.4 meters because he has diagrams for a ton of different theropods and they are not all that length www.deviantart.com/franoys/art/Giant-predatory-dinosaurs-comparison-616409616 Plus it's not like he just does the bare minimum and calls it a day he spends a ton of time on his work and gets decent results.Like I have previously stated if you have any issues with any of his results just drop him a message on his page he normally gets back to people and explains how he got his results. |
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Post by dinosauria101 on Oct 4, 2019 16:32:59 GMT 5
Maybe that would be a good idea.
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Post by jdangerousdinosaur on Oct 4, 2019 16:37:07 GMT 5
If you can get the answers right from the source you might as well.
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Post by dinosauria101 on Oct 4, 2019 18:40:10 GMT 5
A little more skepticism on my part:
-Questioning the hype of Siats being North America's last allosaurid; it could very well have been a tyrannosauroid for all we know like I said in the other thread
-Same about megaraptorans in general - those 'late surviving allosaurs' are most likely just tyrant lizards who found their way south
-Looking a little deeper into Ibrahim's Spinosaurus - this completely blows what many post-2014 T rex fanboys have to say about Rex vs Spino out of the water (pun intended). No longer do dozens and dozens of serious fanatics from each side have to have pointless debates all across social media. Each side can have victory in their own habitat.
-Questioning the 'crushing bite>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>slicing bite' concept almost always brought up in carnosaur vs tyrannosaur fights. It doesn't seem to hold much water, and now I usually go by 50/50 or edge to carnosaurs at parity depending on species
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smedz
Junior Member
Posts: 195
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Post by smedz on Oct 5, 2019 4:23:12 GMT 5
Since this is in general discussion, I wondeer if this thread is supposed to be about zoology related skepticism or about skepticism in general. I'll let smedz enlighten us. Zoology related skepticism. |
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smedz
Junior Member
Posts: 195
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Post by smedz on Oct 5, 2019 5:29:06 GMT 5
creature386
I suppose you mean explain why I'm skeptical of somethings?
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Post by dinosauria101 on Oct 5, 2019 5:29:37 GMT 5
smedzThis is probably the most appropriate thread in which to ask: What is your reason for voting for the tiger here (hyperlink)? I'm a bit skeptical of it pulling off a win
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Post by creature386 on Oct 5, 2019 13:15:19 GMT 5
creature386 I suppose you mean explain why I'm skeptical of somethings? No, the "enlighten" us part was really only to explain what this thread is about. |
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smedz
Junior Member
Posts: 195
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Post by smedz on Oct 5, 2019 16:58:25 GMT 5
creature386 I suppose you mean explain why I'm skeptical of somethings? No, the "enlighten" us part was really only to explain what this thread is about. Oh okay, thanks for clearing it up. dinosauria101 I understand that these battles are hypothetical death matches, but I like to look at these fights with the realistic point of view rather than the hypothetical way. So I did that to give the realistic point of view. |
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