As usual, I would probably be more positive towards this material today than when I wrote this review back in 2013.
"Last extinction" is a documentary promoting
a rather fringey theory: that the mass extinction of the "megafauna"
during the Quaternary was caused by a comet impact. A similar scenario has for
decades been standard orthodoxy as the explanation for the extinction of the
dinosaurs.
I admit that "Last extinction" didn't thrill me, but perhaps the reason is that I watched it at approximately 1:30 AM, local time. I was also very tired... I don't claim to know much about the Quaternary extinction, but I noticed that the most common theory in popular literature is that Palaeolithic hunters killed off the mammoths, mastodons and other charismatic mega-beasts. I used to believe that myself, but the obviously ideological implications of the claim have made me wonder. But does that mean it was an object from outer space?
Perhaps I'm unfair, but it seems a certain breed of PR-obsessed scientists always conjure up comet impacts to explain pretty much everything, from the origins of life to the black death. From the top of my head, I don't really believe this scenario either. But sure, watch this (rather boring) program and make up your own mind. Three stars.
I admit that "Last extinction" didn't thrill me, but perhaps the reason is that I watched it at approximately 1:30 AM, local time. I was also very tired... I don't claim to know much about the Quaternary extinction, but I noticed that the most common theory in popular literature is that Palaeolithic hunters killed off the mammoths, mastodons and other charismatic mega-beasts. I used to believe that myself, but the obviously ideological implications of the claim have made me wonder. But does that mean it was an object from outer space?
Perhaps I'm unfair, but it seems a certain breed of PR-obsessed scientists always conjure up comet impacts to explain pretty much everything, from the origins of life to the black death. From the top of my head, I don't really believe this scenario either. But sure, watch this (rather boring) program and make up your own mind. Three stars.
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