Re: Paleo21 - Avocational paleontologists

[Calymene@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Michael Sternberg wrote:
I agaricocrinus with him. Everyone wants but few are able.



> At 07:06 PM 8/20/97 -0700, Mike Everhart wrote:
> >At the risk of drawing a lot of hype and flame, may I make the humble
> >suggestion that we are all drawn to a common subject; paleontology.....
> >
> >Why can't we all just consider ourselves to be paleontologists and let
> >it go at that?
> >
> 
> If I am interested in Civil War history, am I a historian?  If I am
> interested in medicine am I a physician?  Terminology is used to
> categorize, and if we expand the meaning beyond the intended purpose, it
> fails to provide meaning at all.
> 
> If one practices the craft and science of paleontology, including
> publication and scrutiny by peer review, then using the term paleontologist
> is legitimate, IMHO.  As I wrote earlier, I personally won't use the term
> paleontologist without qualifiers when I refer to *myself* because I am not
> published, and have not yet made a meaningful contribution to the science.
> All that is subject to change when I do finish work on fossil flora of the
> northwest.
> 
> I guess my whole point in all of this is that cavalier use of terms, such
> as paleontologist, can have an unexpected effect of diminishing the
> distinction between science and hobby.
> 
> Regards,
> Michael
> 
>        ---====  Michael Sternberg  ====---
>  Avocational Paleontologist and Natural Curiousitarian
>            "I never Metasequoia I didn't like"
>                   Quod erat inveniendum
> Member: Northwest Paleontological Association
>                Vancouver Paleontological Society
>                Botanical Society of America
>                Geological Society of America
>        ---=============================---
> Pacific Northwest Geology and Paleontology at:  Cascadia - A Paleo Homepage
> http://www.cnw.com/~mstern/                          Last Rev date: 11.24.96