[Taxacom] Extrapolation

[Bob Mesibov]

If it's a plausible development, then it doesn't matter which side
you're on. That's like someone 50 years ago being for/against pre-sliced
bread or pop-up toasters.

On a personal level, you and I are both involved in discovering
previously unknown forms of life (fish and millipedes, respectively).
The number of discoverables is declining thanks to a range of human
impacts on the planet, and public support for discovery (money and new
discovery recruits) is declining, thanks in part to competition from the
ever-expanding tree-building industry.

We can't stop either decline. What we *can* do is make the documentation
of discovery much more efficient (and you personally have done a
fantastic job in expediting this), and commit ourselves to salvaging
discoverables before they disappear.

Within this niche in the scientific environment, we can do a good and
satisfying job in coming years. The rest of systematics can develop
however it likes.
-- 
Dr Robert Mesibov
Honorary Research Associate, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery
and School of Zoology, University of Tasmania
Contact: PO Box 101, Penguin, Tasmania, Australia 7316
(03) 64371195; 61 3 64371195
http://www.qvmag.tas.gov.au/mesibov.html
---