That’s the question asked today in an article posted on Science Daily.
To which I might add: Why not? Dinosaurs didn’t die out: they have ruled parts of this planet in the guise of fundamentalist theocracies for decades. They thunder and roar in Iran like rutting Stegosaurs. The Taliban raptor rampaged through Afghanistan until they had to slink back to their caves while NATO knocked them about.
But it’s not just theocracies. Brontosaurs stomp about in Republican and Conservative parties in so-called “advanced” nations. Ceratopsians rule North Korea and Myanmar. Living fossils in China still brutalize the Tibetan mammals.
If a political dinosaur like Rick Santorum can snort and thunder here, why can’t there be planets with a democratic, liberal dinosaurs?
Okay, the article does ponder the possible existence of “monstrous creatures with the intelligence and cunning of humans” which is not exactly what we have here on Earth: monstrous humans with the intelligence of dinosaurs. Maybe advanced dinosaurs only live on advanced planets.
I’m not sure Rick Santorum is a ‘political dinosaur’. Unfortunately he is a totally modern creation. The Founding Fathers – so popular with Santorum’s Tea Party supporters – were products of the Age of Enlightenment. Several of them were undoubtedly rational atheists who wouldn’t get very far in today’s political scene.
I would call Santorum and his ilk “living fossils.” For them that would mean something 6-10,000 years old, of course…
As for the Founding Fathers – it was the Age of Enlightenment. Today we’re in the Age of Unenlightenment. Sad…