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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOver 40% of Americans believe humans and dinosaurs shared the planet
The recent release of Jurassic World broke records for the best opening weekend ever, taking in $208.8 million in North America. The film, which is a reboot of 1993's original Jurassic Park, focuses on a theme park which displays dinosaurs that have been cloned by taking the DNA from fossils.
YouGov's latest research shows that 41% of Americans think that dinosaurs and humans either 'definitely' (14%) or 'probably' (27%) once lived on the planet at the same time. 43% think that this is either 'definitely' (25%) or 'probably' (18%) not true while 16% aren't sure. In reality the earliest ancestors of humans have only been on the planet for 6 million years, while the last dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago.
There is a religious split on this question. While most Americans who describe themselves as 'born again' (56%) believe that humans and dinosaurs once shared the planet, most Americans who do not describe themselves as born again (51%) think that they did not. Only 22% of born again Americans think that dinosaurs and humans did not coexist.
When asked about the science that provides the fictional basis for the Jurassic Park movies, most Americans (54%) say that it is not currently possible to create dinosaur clones from DNA found in fossils while 28% believe that it is currently possible. Half the public also say that if there were a theme park like Jurassic Park, they would not go to visit while 40% say that they would.
https://today.yougov.com/news/2015/06/18/jurassic-world/
Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)like crocodiles and alligators, which are not technically considered to be dinosaurs but are closely related, and who knows what primeval dinosaur-like life forms may still exist in the world's oceans.
SusanCalvin
(6,592 posts)Humanist_Activist
(7,670 posts)Archosaurs like Crocodilians are closely related, but birds are the closest, being direct descendants of Theropods.
Whether marine reptiles have survived to today, its doubtful, though theoretically possible. I'd love to see a Mosasaur like the species depicted in Jurassic World.
Generic Brad
(14,275 posts)I am not going out on a limb speculating that the 41% who think dinosaurs and humans shared the planet are among the half who have less than average intelligence.
Joe Turner
(930 posts)to take such fairy tales at face value. Republicans that believe in this nonsense is a main driver in that stat and the clowns they elect are the end result of their stupidity.
okasha
(11,573 posts)That word does not denote what you think it does.
HERVEPA
(6,107 posts)okasha
(11,573 posts)DawgHouse
(4,019 posts)SusanCalvin
(6,592 posts)I got called for one of the big "is America scientifically illiterate" surveys a number of years ago. I viewed the questions as ridiculously easy, grade-school stuff. When I finished, the caller told me I'd made 100% (I already knew that), and seemed blown away.
Later on, I saw the dismal results......
Xipe Totec
(43,890 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)mrdmk
(2,943 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)mrdmk
(2,943 posts)after surviving an encounter with the likes of them (i.e. dinosaurs).
freshwest
(53,661 posts)still_one
(92,397 posts)hobbit709
(41,694 posts)still_one
(92,397 posts)Xithras
(16,191 posts)Sadly, there are a lot of incredibly dumb Democrats in this country as well. In my 40+ years, I've met more Democratic creationists than I could possibly count...IN CALIFORNIA. As much as I wish it were, this isn't just a Republican or Bible Belt thing.
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)of those that SAY they believe in magic over science do so only so as not to be religiously shunned, not actually believing that over even Grade 5 Science....the majority are not that stupid, but they are that intimidated.
Kind of like Republicans outraged, again, over Obamacare subsidies being upheld while actually and secretly grateful they do not actually have to come up with a fix, they can just keep repeating the same 5 year old lies.
Folks are smarter than a 5th grader.....but then comes religious and cult purity.
GeorgeGist
(25,323 posts)HFRN
(1,469 posts)all the proof I need
and I believe Dino was younger than Fred
Humanist_Activist
(7,670 posts)I'm sure many of them are completely ignorant of the evolution and phylogeny of Dinosauria. But the fact is that dinosaurs exist now, we call them birds, their anatomy and phylogeny are a testament to this fact, they are dinosaurs. Their clade has a few differences, the big ones being a toothless beak, flight feathers, and no bony tail. However, outside of that, there are far more similarities than differences, far closer than the living fossils that are Alligators and Crocodiles.
SusanCalvin
(6,592 posts)Birds were declared descendants of dinosaurs. Don't remember the exact year, but I was an adult at the time. I'd had that suspicion for quite a while, and I was thrilled.
miyazaki
(2,249 posts)Some of us are still hairy little shrews.
restorefreedom
(12,655 posts)and creation "science" is taught in school.
cherokeeprogressive
(24,853 posts)Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)USA! USA! USA!
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)my two velociraptors (conures) can be quite viscous. Oh and one day the Science channel had a program recreating what they think a T-Rex would sound like. ALL birds started alarm calls. At the time our cockatiel was still alive. I found that ahem, odd.
Oh and as far as the movie goes, good sound track, good special effects, lousy acting and lousy screen play,
If you want to watch special effects, watch it. If you want a movie with anything else. pass on it.
As to the science, not dinos, but we are getting close with a mammoth.
Oh and this one is a classic... not reality, just very well produced.
<iframe width="636" height="353" src="
And it did remind me of the kids... at times...
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)and reason and science are derided as snooty fancy-pants intellectual stuff.
donco
(1,548 posts)be the Fred Flintstone effect.Yabba dabba doo.
winstars
(4,220 posts)onecaliberal
(32,895 posts)mrdmk
(2,943 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)sadoldgirl
(3,431 posts)enticing and elaborate brainwashing for about
40 years at least. Very successful, right?!
SidDithers
(44,228 posts)In his book "Dinosaurs of Eden"
Yes, that's a real fucking thing:
https://answersingenesis.org/store/product/dinosaurs-eden/?sku=10-1-166
Here are a bunch of peaceful vegetarian dinosaurs living in peace with Adam and Eve.
Fucking idiots.
Sid
freshwest
(53,661 posts)Liberty Belle
(9,535 posts)Well okay, so it was just a statue with a curious tourist....I shot this on the summer solstice in Anza Borrego desert this weekend....you just never know what you'll see out in the desert at night!
DetlefK
(16,423 posts)When misinformation and belief trump fact and knowledge.