In geology, as in the other sciences, the puzzle is a lot of fun, and we tell ourselves (with some justification, I believe) that we are being successful in the long run. But understanding the history of the ground beneath our feet is only a puzzle that appeals to some of us. The concerns that all of us share, the ones that really matter; how to understand ourselves, our communities, our relationship to the universe and our place in it, our not satisfied this way.

I watched some "yellow science" on TV this weekend: the Search for Noah's Ark. Total nonsense, of course, but otherwise intelligent, articulate and I believe decent men are throwing themselves into these pointless endeavors, desperate to find some
meaning in their lives by looking for bits of fossilized timber on remote Turkish mountainsides. We may see it as a wild goose chase, (perhaps a snipe hunt is a better metaphor), but we can offer them no answers they can accept.

It isn't just the world of supermarket checkout line anomalism and Sunday supplement cryptozoology I'm talking about. How we view history is used as evidence of how we should organize our communities, our lives, even our work. We search for meaning where there is none. You know no amount of geology, astronomy and biology is going to resolve the debates on Creationism, either.

I sometimes wonder if our fascination with science isn't as ultimately futile as my friend's stoned Pontiac passengers, facing backwards as they ride to some unknowable future.