--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There are gaps in the fossil graveyard…" description: "\"There are gaps in the fossil graveyard, places where there should be intermediate forms, but where there is nothing whatsoever instead. No paleontologi..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c20/david-berlinski-16009_conflict_there-are-gaps-in-the-fossil-graveyard-p_2032392.png" --- # There are gaps in the fossil graveyard, places where there… ![“There are gaps in the fossil graveyard, places where there should be intermediate forms, but where there is nothing whatsoever instead. No paleontologist..denies that this is so. It is simply a fact, Darwin's theory and the fossil record are in conflict.” quote by David Berlinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c20/david-berlinski-16009_conflict_there-are-gaps-in-the-fossil-graveyard-p_2032392.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c20/david-berlinski-16009_conflict_there-are-gaps-in-the-fossil-graveyard-p_2032392.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c20/david-berlinski-16009_conflict_there-are-gaps-in-the-fossil-graveyard-p_2032392.png) > “There are gaps in the fossil graveyard, places where there should be intermediate forms, but where there is nothing whatsoever instead. No paleontologist..denies that this is so. It is simply a fact, Darwin's theory and the fossil record are in conflict.” [David Berlinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-berlinski/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Fossil gaps challenge a literal reading of evolution, suggesting the theory and evidence are not fully aligned. **In simple terms:** Fossil record has missing links. Key Takeaway Question assumptions about scientific completeness. Themes science evolution evidence skepticism Mood critical inquisitive Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - academic debate - education curricula - public policy - media reporting Key Concepts philosophy of science falsifiability data gaps Questions to Reflect On - What evidence would resolve these gaps? - How do we balance uncertainty with scientific consensus? A Different Perspective Science progresses by addressing gaps, not dismissing whole frameworks. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Conflict](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conflict/) [Deny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deny/) [Evolution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/evolution/) [Facts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/facts/) [Form](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/form/) [Fossil Graveyard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fossil-graveyard-3739225/) [Fossil Record](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fossil-record-414115/) [Fossils](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fossils/) [Gaps](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gaps/) [Gaps Fossil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gaps-fossil-3739223/) [Graveyard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/graveyard/) [Paleontologist Denies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/paleontologist-denies-3739224/) [Records](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/records/) [Should](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should/) [Theory](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theory/) [Theory Fossil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/theory-fossil-3739222/) ## Related quotes > [We don't need fossils - the case for evolution is watertight without them; so it is paradoxical to use gaps in the fossil record…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/we-don-t-need-fossils-the-case-for-evolution-is-watertight-without/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [Humans will eventually become extinct. People treat that as a radical thing to say. But the fossil record shows us that everything eventually becomes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-kolbert/humans-will-eventually-become-extinct-people-treat-that-as-a-radical-2/) [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-kolbert/) > [On a perfect planet such as might be acceptable to a physicist, one might predict that from its origin the diversity of life would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-conway-morris/on-a-perfect-planet-such-as-might-be-acceptable-to-a-physicist-one/) [Simon Conway Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-conway-morris/) > [The fossil record contains no trace of these preliminary stages in the development of many-celled organisms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-jastrow/the-fossil-record-contains-no-trace-of-these-preliminary-stages-in/) [Robert Jastrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-jastrow/) > [Where did love begin?What human being looked at another and saw in their face the forests and the sea? Was there a day, exhausted…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanette-winterson/where-did-love-begin-what-human-being-looked-at-another-and-saw-in-2/) [Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-winterson/) > [Darwin's prediction of rampant, albeit gradual, change affecting all lineages through time is refuted. The record is there, and the record speaks for tremendous…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/niles-eldredge/darwin-s-prediction-of-rampant-albeit-gradual-change-affecting-all/) [Niles Eldredge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/niles-eldredge/) > [Wherever we look at the living biota … discontinuities are overwhelmingly frequent…The discontinuities are even more striking in the fossil record. New species usually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernst-mayr/wherever-we-look-at-the-living-biota-discontinuities-are/) [Ernst Mayr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernst-mayr/) > [“The phrase 'the fossil record' sounds impressive and authoritative. As used by some persons it becomes, as intended, intimidating, taking on the aura of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gareth-j-nelson/the-phrase-the-fossil-record-sounds-impressive-and-authoritative-as/) [Gareth J. Nelson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gareth-j-nelson/) > [Palaeontologists cannot live by uniformitarianism alone. This may be termed the Phenomenon of the Fallibility of the Fossil Record.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-v-ager/palaeontologists-cannot-live-by-uniformitarianism-alone-this-may-be/) [D. V. Ager](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/d-v-ager/) > [They say, you know, about evolution, it surely happened because their fossil record shows that. Look, my body and your body are miracles of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/they-say-you-know-about-evolution-it-surely-happened-because-their/) [Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/) > [“Each plant and animal is exquisitely made; should not a supremely competent Designer have been able to make the intended variety from the start?…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/each-plant-and-animal-is-exquisitely-made-should-not-a-supremely/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [There are about 250,000 different species of fossil plants and animals known . . In spite of this large quantity of information, it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-m-raup/there-are-about-250-000-different-species-of-fossil-plants-and/) [David M. Raup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-m-raup/) > [The fossil record implies trial and error, the inability to anticipate the future, features inconsistent with a Great Designer (though not a Designer of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/the-fossil-record-implies-trial-and-error-the-inability-to-anticipate/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) > [“...but I still think that to the unprejudiced, the fossil record of plants is in favor of special creation.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-j-h-corner/but-i-still-think-that-to-the-unprejudiced-the-fossil-record-of/) [E.J.H. Corner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-j-h-corner/) > [Charles Darwin viewed the fossil record more as an embarrassment than as an aid to his theory ...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/charles-darwin-viewed-the-fossil-record-more-as-an-embarrassment-than/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) ## More by David Berlinski > [In the end, every scheme and every science is justified by itself or it is not justified at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-berlinski/in-the-end-every-scheme-and-every-science-is-justified-by-itself-or/) [David Berlinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-berlinski/) > [For all the great dreams profitlessly invested in the digital computer, it is nonetheless true that not since the framers of the American Constitution…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-berlinski/for-all-the-great-dreams-profitlessly-invested-in-the-digital/) [David Berlinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-berlinski/) > [The motion of the mind is conveyed along a cloud of meaning.~ There is this paradox that we get to meaning only when we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-berlinski/the-motion-of-the-mind-is-conveyed-along-a-cloud-of-meaning-there-is/) [David Berlinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-berlinski/) > [“The argument that Hawking has offered may be conveyed by question-and-answer, as in the Catholic catechism.   A Catechism of Quantum Cosmology Q: From…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-berlinski/the-argument-that-hawking-has-offered-may-be-conveyed-by-question-and/) [David Berlinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-berlinski/) > [If moral statements are about something, then the universe is not quite as science suggests it is, since physical theories, having said nothing about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-berlinski/if-moral-statements-are-about-something-then-the-universe-is-not/) [David Berlinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-berlinski/) > [“Before you can ask 'Is Darwinian theory correct or not?', You have to ask the preliminary question 'Is it clear enough so that it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-berlinski/before-you-can-ask-is-darwinian-theory-correct-or-not-you-have-to-ask/) [David Berlinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-berlinski/) > [“What Hitler did not believe and what Stalin did not believe and what Mao did not believe and what the SS did not believe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-berlinski/what-hitler-did-not-believe-and-what-stalin-did-not-believe-and-what/) [David Berlinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-berlinski/) > [Bystanders wandered in and out of the merchant's stall, passing the time, talking of dreams they might purchase. Workers and slaves stooped from labor…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-berlinski/bystanders-wandered-in-and-out-of-the-merchant-s-stall-passing-the/) [David Berlinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-berlinski/) > [“Whatever the degree to which Darwin may have “misled science into a dead end,” the biologist Shi V. Liu observed in commenting on Koonin’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-berlinski/whatever-the-degree-to-which-darwin-may-have-misled-science-into-a/) [David Berlinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-berlinski/) > [No distinction in kind rather than degree between ourselves and the chimps? No distinction? Seriously, folks? Here is a simple operational test: the chimpanzees…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-berlinski/no-distinction-in-kind-rather-than-degree-between-ourselves-and-the/) [David Berlinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-berlinski/) > [The desire to see and the desire to ratify what one has seen are desires at odds with one another, if only because they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-berlinski/the-desire-to-see-and-the-desire-to-ratify-what-one-has-seen-are/) [David Berlinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-berlinski/) > [Every computer divides itself into its hardware and its software, the machine host to its algorithm, the human being to his mind. It is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-berlinski/every-computer-divides-itself-into-its-hardware-and-its-software-the/) [David Berlinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-berlinski/) > [I do not know whether any of this is true. I am certain that the scientific community does not know that it is false.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-berlinski/i-do-not-know-whether-any-of-this-is-true-i-am-certain-that-the/) [David Berlinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-berlinski/) > [For the most part, it is true, ordinary men and women regard mathematics with energetic distaste, counting its concepts as rhapsodic as cauliflower. This…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-berlinski/for-the-most-part-it-is-true-ordinary-men-and-women-regard/) [David Berlinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-berlinski/) > [ The definition of a limit is essentially his \[Cauchy's\] creation and is as much of a miracle as those fantastic Swiss clocks of the… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-berlinski/the-definition-of-a-limit-is-essentially-his-cauchy-s-creation-and-is/) [David Berlinski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-berlinski/) [Explore all 41 David Berlinski quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-berlinski/) ## More Conflict quotes > [The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-history-of-mankind-interests-us-only-as-it-exhibits-a-steady-gain/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [The U.S.-Mexican border es un herida abierta where the Third World grates against the first and bleeds. And before a scab forms it hemorrhages…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gloria-e-anzald-a/the-u-s-mexican-border-es-un-herida-abierta-where-the-third-world/) [Gloria E. Anzaldúa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gloria-e-anzald-a/) > [There is a conflict in the Middle East between two entities, and they're both right, each in their own way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reuven-rivlin/there-is-a-conflict-in-the-middle-east-between-two-entities-and-they/) [Reuven Rivlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reuven-rivlin/) > [Conflict isn't negative, it just is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-crum/conflict-isn-t-negative-it-just-is/) [Thomas Crum](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-crum/) > [I have lived in countries that were coming out of conflict: Ireland, South Africa, the Czech republic. People there are overflowing with energy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-eno/i-have-lived-in-countries-that-were-coming-out-of-conflict-ireland/) [Brian Eno](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-eno/) > [Africa, being the major target of colonial plunder, therefore becomes a major source of conflict.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-horne/africa-being-the-major-target-of-colonial-plunder-therefore-becomes-a/) [Gerald Horne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-horne/) > [All drama is conflict. Without conflict, there is no action. Without action, there is no character. Without character, there is no story. And without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/syd-field/all-drama-is-conflict-without-conflict-there-is-no-action-without/) [Syd Field](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/syd-field/) > [The irrepressible conflict propounded by abolitionism has produced now its legitimate fruits - disunion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-irrepressible-conflict-propounded-by-abolitionism-has-produced/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“These are all good things, I said. But no one knows where your country is or who you are. You don't have a familiar…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-shteyngart/these-are-all-good-things-i-said-but-no-one-knows-where-your-country/) [Gary Shteyngart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-shteyngart/) > [I understand the formula that producers hire directors and directors are hired to direct and actors are hired to act. 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