Darwinius masillae ("Darwin's creature from the Messel pit," now better known to the world simply as Ida) is getting absolutely enormous hype in recent days. This even though the fossil was discovered by amateurs way back in 1983. But the find was divided and sold to different buyers, only to be reassembled two years ago and presented to the world a couple of days ago.And the world (well, the media anyhow) has gone crazy over it. It has been called the 8th wonder of the world; Google's home page today is emblazoned with an image of the fossil; some scientists and a whole bunch of journalists have gone completely over the top, mindlessly hailing the find as the missing link.
But Ida is not the missing link. As CBS News reported (in one of the more responsible reactions around), this discovery doesn't even "relate to the more heated debate over whether chimpanzees and humans share a common identity." Conclusion? "The fossil is not the so-called 'missing link' [though] the two factions will likely pounce on this new find with evolutionists claiming the skeleton adds to the limited fossil record."
"Limited fossil record" is right. Indeed, it is a very limited record -- certainly when compared to what should exist if evolutionists' theories were true. No wonder they are so giddy about finding this one. For, no doubt about it, it is a dramatic specimen, a wonderfully complete fossil of an ancient lemur, though a well-informed jury might dispute the claim that it is 47,000,000 years old.
Paleontologist Jorn Hurum, whose team analyzed the fossil, is also promoting the lucrative after-effects: an upcoming book, an Anthony Geffen film, a TV special entitled "The Link. This Changes Everything" and a promotional web site -- to be followed, of course, by T-shirts, caps, lunchboxes and action figures. You get the point. There's money and notoriety involved here...as well as selling a worldview which openly competes with Christianity.
"This is the first link to all humans," Hurum says. It represents "the closest thing we can get to a direct ancestor."
Wow. That's quite a statement, combining as it does both ignorance (The fossil record just doesn't give us anything else, nothing that will ever be really linked to man.) and yet arrogance too.
Let me suggest what Hurum really wanted to say: "This is the final word, folks. I know this lemur skeleton doesn't look much like a chimpanzee, let alone an ape, let alone Nancy Pelosi but, trust us Darwinians, this is the missing link. Yeah, I know; there was Tiktaalik in 2006 and before that Archaeopteryx in 1999 and before that Lucy in 1974 and a whole lot of others that we insisted then were the breakthrough, the proof, the vaunted missing link. I guess we do tend to forget what we've trumpeted before."
"But, no kidding. Ida really is it. You can bet on it. And won't this help keep our schools and museums free of those blasted creationists and intelligent design freaks? That'll be sweet."
"It should also give me and my team more than just 15 minutes of fame and a few coins besides. Speaking of which, wouldn't you like to buy an Ida sweatshirt or maybe a tote bag? We've got these nifty keychains too and, oh yes; have you tried our Nutty Ida cereal?"
