Piltdown Hoax Week 4

    1) The Piltdown hoax was one of if not the biggest scientific hoax to the scientific community to this day, started by an individual who has still not been discovered/solved. The original founder of the bones was in February of 1912 by Charles Dawson, Dawson finding part of what was thought to be a human/ape jawbone. With this finding many believed it was the missing pieces to figuring out how humans and apes went through evolution. Many people with these findings started to believe more and more that humans and apes are related, since the jaw resembled an ape while the teeth were humans. There was great significance for the British people, since all of the ancestral remains of early humans have been found in mainland Europe. The Piltdown hoax was seen as the oldest remains, making the origins of humanity date back to England. The findings were backed by the prestige Sir Arthur Smith Woodward, which led to the scientific community widely accepting the discoveries valid. Another supporter was Arthur Keith, he believed with these fossil findings they helped validate his theory saying that humans developed brains before walking upright. Eventually the hoax was solved 30+ years later by the Natural History Museum.

   2) Human Faults in this specific scenario come from for now Charles Dawson, and whoever else either worked with him or till the correct person is found. In trying to find a correlation between humans and apes, Dawson finds the remains of a Jaw and instantly begins to think he's done it. Dawsons greed in trying to be the first in finding a direct correlation caused this miss judgment as well as caused other individuals to fall for it as well. Especially those from British scientific community in England, in a display of pride and accomplishment they quickly accepted the Piltdown hoax as the true ancestor of the modern man. Another human fault is believing everything that comes out of a scientist's mouth is correct which in this case is definitely not true whatsoever. These faults can lead to false evidence which can lead many to obtain the wrong or incorrect information. It will spread the wrong influence and when the truth or evidence comes to light many would perceive it as wrong.

   3) Since the findings of the skull were incorrect this led to many scientists try and figure out what exactly they had ended up finding or being lied to with. In 1949, tests were done by measuring the fluorine content of fossils to determine how old it was coming about at the end of World War II. These set of tests came 20+ years after the remains were found, which shows how actually important is to make upgrades to the scientific field in order to find the actual truth not only behind the Piltdown hoax but as well as any other new discoveries. This makes scientific evidence become more creditable or viewed as actual source to get valid information from. After one of the lasts tests done on the skull and the jaw it was to be discovered that the remains were just only about 100,000 years old or less and that the stains and shape were all fake. Meaning that someone carved up to shape and stain the findings to make them appear more real or appear older.

   4) Even if it is possible to remove the human factor from science that may not be the best option in the long run. No matter if the individual or individual group is right or wrong you can learn from your mistakes. As spoken previously with the Piltdown hoax scientist were able to find the error that was made even if it had taken a while to figure out. It is natural for humans to make mistakes but at the same time someone can purposely make those mistakes for personal gain no matter what the outcome does to the rest of society. Naturally human factors would eventually cancel out as many would try and discover the truth and would bring it to the light. The right question would be to ask is "How do we prevent wrongful human factors" to try and mitigate any possible factors to get in the way of true scientific findings.

   5) A lesson to take away from the Piltdown hoax is to always have questions and not always believe everything you see or hear right away. It is important to read or investigate the factual knowledge before making an assumption. Examples would be the current state of the upcoming presidential candidates. Whatever party you agree with or represent has all put incorrect information about one another. It's hard to figure out which is correct as you would want to believe every higher authority figure you follow even if it is wrong or right. CNN and Fox news are notorious for spreading false narratives or false information about anyone if it does not fit your agenda. You would think a well-known or thought to be trusted source would always tell the truth but that is not always the case with them. So, it'll benefit everyone to dig deeper or question anything that you don't know much information about.