Conversation with an evolution theorist

The experts say that today's children are those who will develop ground-breaking, currently unimaginable technologies and save our world in the future. They will grow up to become the new Einsteins, Gates and Friedmans. They will be respected for their findings, their research, their academic ingenuity.

I'm proud to say that I have give birth to three of these amazing creatures.

One of them, the middle one, is currently showing signs of becoming a scientist... the kind of scientist who will shake the very grounds of the scientific system.

Here is a recap of our conversation this morning over a breakfast of oatmeal and brown sugar. Please note that I was not yet fully awake, so, as you'll see, I wasn't very quick on the uptake. If you are wondering, the "we" in the following story refers to the human race.

Lucas: "Mom, what were we when we were dinosaurs?"

Me: "I'm sorry. What did you say?"

Lucas: "I said, what were we when we were dinosaurs?"

Me: "I'm sorry, honey. I don't really know what you mean."

Lucas: "Well, as you know, we were once tiny fish in the sea. Fish that could feel any -- I mean any -- movement in the water! Isn't that cool?! Like, we could feel a movement hundreds of miles away. That's how sensitive we were!"

Me: "We were?"

Lucas (rolling his eyes): "Of course! But what I want to know is -- what we were when we were dinosaurs!"

Me (I'm slowly catching on....): "Hmmm. I don't know. We'll have to look it up."

Lucas: "Well, I know one thing. There is NO WAY we could have moved from being monkeys to being humans if we weren't also dinosaurs way back then. We must have been some mad cool dinosaurs."

And he returned to eating his meal.

I'll have to look it up. Any ideas?