I met the fellow who was doing this animated short at the Bell Museum a while back, and now he’s let me know the work was done … so here it is for everyone to enjoy.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
Is there supposed to be sound?
Is there supposed to be meaning?
Thanks, that was quite elegant. It might have been better with some kind of music, but hey, it illustrates the point.
quite elegant
Oh.
There was something there at the very end that I must have missed. Up until then fine, then, presto, no punchline. I’m usually only this obtuse in the morning.
Now I feel really dumb for asking, but that’s how we learn, so let me be the person with the stones to say… what?
I don’t get it.
(Imagine that in a good Homer Simpson voice)
There was a point?
Disney’s “Rite of Spring” sequence in the original Fantasia has nothing to worry about.
Likewise the “Bolero” sequence in Allegro non Tropo… :-)
LOVED IT, BUT MOST OF THE COMMENTS WERE FAIR: NEEDED SOUND
I don’t like this sort of animation. While cool in concept, I think things like this play into some of the more primal misunderstandings of evolution: individual things morphing over time. It wouldn’t be that hard to illustrate something more accurate in a way just as dramatic: the spreading out of slightly varied offspring and the non-random culling of some forms and not others.
I have an Inuit friend who stresses “the land” in her life. I think she’d like this. Unfortunately she also has a crappy net connection. Hm …
The Nunavut Mining Symposium was held in Iqaluit last week and Farish Jenkins gave several presentations on Tiktaalik, including the reconstructed model that everyone’s probably seen pictures of. Great speaker, and one of the highlights of the meeting (one of the organizers felt like apologizing to the mining and exploration companies present at the trade show because, while the event was supposed to be about them, the fish was clearly the star of the show.
There are two of the Tiktaalik models in Canada right now: one in Grise Fiord (the community on Ellesmere nearest the discoery), and one in Iqaluit. I’m happy to report that efforts are now underway to have the Iqaluit model set up in the airport, the location where it will receive the most exposure and where it will be shown alongside other things that are considered historically significant.
The creationists (and we have some) aren’t aware of this yet but some of us are ready to get in their faces when and if they try and complain.