Intelligent Dinosaurs

[Moontanman]

Is it possible that at the end of the Cretaceous period the mass extinction we now believe was caused by or at least exacerbated by an asteroid impact and helped by the huge outflow of magma in the Deccan Traps was actually caused by intelligent dinosaurs? Could a species of anthroposaur really have caused the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous much like humans have caused a mass extinction at the end of the tertiary period?

Anthroposaurus Sapiens. The Dinosaur Heritage. AskWhy! Publications

[Turtle]

anything's possible. that said, the siberian flood basalts are related to the permian extinctions, not the cretaceous. as far as intelligent as in like us goes, hardly likely else we would suredly have recovered/found some of their technology.

[Moontanman]

Originally Posted by Turtle

anything's possible. that said, the siberian flood basalts are related to the permian extinctions, not the cretaceous. as far as intelligent as in like us goes, hardly likely else we would suredly have recovered/found some of their technology.

That should have been the Deccan Traps sorry about that. Recovering some of their technology depends on how technological they were. If they never made it to the machine age I doubt we would see anything. I'm not sure how much of our technology would be apparent after 65 million years. It's also possible that our disposable civilization isn't the only way to do it. It might very well be they were much better at making things that were biodegradable and recovering and reusing that which was not.

[Moontanman]

More on intellegent dinosaurs:

How intelligent dinosaurs conquered the world : Tetrapod Zoology

http://www.reptilianagenda.com/research/r012100b.shtml

[Turtle]

at least you had the courtesy to put this nonsense in silly claims. i'll do you the courtesy to evaluate it in that vein. given all the serious mysteries to explore, this line of thought is a stupendous waste of time. i read your first link and it is so full of non sequitars that i can't imagine anyone beyond fifth grade coming up with it. not even worth the virtual ink to rebutt it. good grief.

[Moontanman]

Turtle, do you not have a funny bone? Don't you ever discuss things that are probably not true but they are fun to think about the possibility of anyway? I was amazed at how much stuff I could find on the subject of the possibility of intelligent dinosaurs. Spoil sport, at least I did put it in silly claims.

What Really Wiped Out The Dinosaurs? - Dinosaur extinction - io9

[Moontanman]

BTW could a mod correct my spelling of intelligent in the title?

[Turtle]

Originally Posted by Moontanman

Turtle, do you not have a funny bone? Don't you ever discuss things that are probably not true but they are fun to think about the possibility of anyway? I was amazed at how much stuff I could find on the subject of the possibility of intelligent dinosaurs. Spoil sport, at least I did put it in silly claims.

What Really Wiped Out The Dinosaurs? - Dinosaur extinction - io9

don't be ridiculous moocanman. you know my rapier wit as well as any. the short answer to your second question; seldom if ever. as i said; there's a butt-load of worthy stuff to ponder. to quote my friend roger; "those who can't count, don't count.

[Moontanman]

Originally Posted by Turtle

don't be ridiculous moocanman. you know my rapier wit as well as any. the short answer to your second question; seldom if ever. as i said; there's a butt-load of worthy stuff to ponder. to quote my friend roger; "those who can't count, don't count.

there's a butt-load of worthy stuff to ponder

Not lately! The silly season is nigh!

Turtles are such cute little rascals, hard headed, but cute.

[Boerseun]

Okay - let's think about it for a second:

The only intelligent species capable of having a global impact on life that we know of, so far, is us. So what will be left of us and our vaunted intelligence in 65 million years?

Imagine another intelligent species come to the fore in 65 million years, long after humans have died a collective suffocating death in extreme heat caused by Global Warming. Naturally, they would assume that in the long run of Life on Earth they are the first clever beings to live here. Would there be any evidence at all of humans ever having lived here?

I doubt it. There will be nothing left of the pyramids, nothing of the Boulder, Aswan or any other dams. The only evidence might be mountain passes that have been blasted out to make way for tarmac, or vast open-pit mines like the diamond mines of Russia and South Africa. Some future geologist might invent some fancy explanations for it, however, because inferring an intelligence that lived 65 billion years in the past will be a bit out there. If they were to find our footprints on the moon, they would probably assign it to extraterrestrial intelligence, because where else would it come from?

That said, I suppose we don't have any real hard evidence as to the potential for any saurian intelligence or not. We can only infer that they were dumb as bricks from what we know of biology today, and drawing comparisons. We don't know if there was a saurian species who lived in great big cities of shiny glass and steel, and visited the moon, because first of all, there would be nothing left of them if they ever did build cities, and secondly, the moon is a big place, and we haven't really been looking for dinosaur footprints on the moon. But the final clincher (in my book, at least) is that the evidence that goes with the mass extinction of 65 million years ago which you want to blame the dinos for, is geologic in nature. If the dinos caused that, then they weren't intelligent and able on our scale. They must have been close to God-like in order to manipulate the planet on that scale. We're mere gnats compared to that capability.

And I think that's a bit far-fetched, at least.