this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2024
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I don't ever remember hearing it suggested that dinosaurs were "sliding towards extinction" before the impact event.
I've always heard it WAS the impact that caused the extinction.
In another life, I attended a large geology conference and went to a session with talks about this. They had two speakers back to back, one boiled down to "it was the asteroid" and the other "it wasn't the asteroid".
Not only did the speakers get heated in each other's question sections, the whole ROOM felt like it was about to get into a fistfight - everyone basically taking over each other to the person to their left, right, front, back. Extremely hostile!
I can't remember the evidence but I do distinctly remember thinking that it wasn't my subject matter and I should probably avoid forming an opinion on it for my physical safety in my career.
Now I'm free to offend paleontologists both professionally and unprofessionally and I can't remember how to :'(
I love this. Thank you for sharing your experience of fiesty geologists.