TPO 13

The reading specifies that rare fossils are being sold to collectives which is an unfortunate development for the general public and scientists and provides three reasons. The professor, however, explains that there are negative consequences in selling fossils in the commercial market but overall, its benefits outweigh bad consequences and refute them all.

First, according to the reading, fossils instead of being donated to museums are sold to collectors and because of that, other people could not see them and in long term, the public interest in the remains of ancient organisms will decline. In contrast, the lecturer says that buyers of fossils most of the time display those fossils to the public. Hence, fossils are not hidden and societies have access to fossils.

Second, the lecture states that wealthy buyers spend virtually limitless amounts of money to acquire fossils, and scientists cannot compete with this buyer to get and buy fossils. Nevertheless, the professor asserts that this point is not very realistic because fossils without detailed examination cannot be priced. It is necessary that scientists examine a fossil completely and after that its value and price will be determined. Therefore, the process will be done by scientists from universities.

Third, the reading says that commercial fossil collectors destroy valuable scientific evidence such as biology information of fossils. On the contrary, the speaker illustrates that it is a price to pay for obtaining a great number of fossils. It is true that collectors damage part of fossils, but instead of that higher number of fossils will be discovered and it is better to have more fossils.