๐งต Untitled Thread
Anonymous at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 11:04:59 UTC No. 16497074
>Be unifag
>Studing biology
>Take vertebrates as an optative class because I need extra credits
>Get assingned a extict branch of early mammals and told get told to infer obout it as much as posible
>Write report talking about the few known characteristics of the branch while also trying my best to infer the rest of its characteristics with the little information we have
>Give her the report
>She starts chastising me
>"Anon, you arent concrete anough"
>Huh?
>"Well... for example, you didnt tell me if its semiacuatic or fully terrestrial"
>"B-Because... theres no real evidence that points either way"
>"Its doesnt matter, just choose your prefered lifestyle and try to bend all of its characteristics into fitting said lifestyle. It doesnt matter if you are right or wrong"
>MFW
I now get why you guys claim biology isnt a real science. I guess ill have to exile myself to /an/.
Anonymous at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 11:10:48 UTC No. 16497079
>>16497074
The point of an undergrad assignment isn't to find the truth, it's to teach you how to review the literature and build a compelling argument from evidence, even if it's totally wrong
Anonymous at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 11:18:54 UTC No. 16497084
>>16497074
>I now get why you guys claim biology isnt a real science
you were told to infer, to make a hypothesis. Not to report on whats already known. You failed
Anonymous at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 11:45:07 UTC No. 16497095
>>16497079
>>16497084
> You failed
But why? When it comes to the digestive system I argued that it could be that they had several stomachs like cows as their very plant heavy diet would make digestion dificult, of course, because we dont have any evidence, it could be that they only had one stomach and that their digestive system was simply unoptimized. This would be supported by the fact that they probably didnt have any major evolutionary pressures due to the ecological niche they fulfilled (Kind of like the kiwi lossing its hability to fly or the C3 plants) and also because their extintion coincided with a major reduction in the amount of plant life. Is this analisis wrong? She claimed I should have considered the organism as perfectly adapted to its enviroment and that should have used modern animals as a blueprint for this extinct branch of mammals.
Anonymous at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 12:41:14 UTC No. 16497122
>>16497074
it do be that way
Anonymous at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 16:27:24 UTC No. 16497259
>>16497074
>B-Because... there's no real evidence that points either way"
In what environment did this branch of mammals live? Are the remains typically found in areas that were once deserts or marshlands? How does the skeletal structure compare to later mammals that are semiaquatic and those that are fully terrestrial?
They're not asking you to publish fraudulent data, they're seeing if you have the intelligence and intuition to apply relevant context to your interpretation of the data.
A biologist who finds a skeleton and can't come up with more than "well, gee, there's some fucking bones, but I can't really tell anything more than that" isn't very useful.
Anonymous at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 20:06:16 UTC No. 16497484
>>16497079
>university is a scam
yep. Endebting kids is unquestionably jewish
Anonymous at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 20:08:19 UTC No. 16497490
>>16497259
>they're seeing if you have the intelligence and intuition
University is a test, yes. But why not condense this multi-year long test down to something done in a week? Why waste everyones time and money.
Because it is a scam.
Anonymous at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 20:33:55 UTC No. 16497525
>>16497074
>>"B-Because... theres no real evidence that points either way"
>>>"Its doesnt matter
Two issues that are manifest in OP's post
>she
and secondly, the publish-or-perish environment of the modern academia means nobody fucking cares about being meticulous and rigorous, because then you can't shit out papers like a mill.
Anonymous at Sun, 1 Dec 2024 05:48:59 UTC No. 16498917
>>16497095
I'm not a biologist, but it sounds like the reasoning and approach that you used conforms to a logical scientific method. It is possible that your lecturer is merely using this exercise as a pedagogical device to teach you how to better understand the biology of existing animals that are perfectly adapted, but if this is the case then she should explain that from the outset, otherwise the lesson is a complete waste of time, but honestly I think she is just not very well adapted to her field.