Is Dr. Melba Ketchum's Bigfoot DNA project vaporware?
The Urban Dictionary defines 'Vaporware' as 'anything (usually software, but can be anything) that is promoted and marketed without ever actually being produced'. The term is now starting to be applied to Dr. Melba Ketchum's project.
Dr. Ketchum's post on Facebook this morning was reassuring, and at the same time puzzling:
I really appreciate everyone's very kind words, support and well wishes. I know everyone will be as glad as I am when we are finished with phase I. Of course, the continued research will go on for years but not under such pressure.
- Dr. Melba Ketchum
She mentions a "continued research" that will go on for years to come. Some people couldn't help but to get that sinking feeling we'll never see the results from her study. Others welcome the frequent updates as updates are already hard to come by.
For a paper to pass peer-review, it has to be as complete, accurate, and clear as possible. Sometimes it may seem unnecessarily long, but this is part of the rigorous process that's required by science. For science to accept the Bigfoot DNA study, it must be approved by all authors. This process takes time.
Back to Vaporware. For gamers, the term vaporware usually comes up when a video game is announced and then pushed back after multiple delays. We can't say we agree with this premises, but this is probably how some of you feel right now, especially after hearing about the Bigfoot DNA study since August, 2010.
Here's what one observer said about the DNA project:
I don't believe in the big guy, but I'm willing to see how this DNA thing plays out (or doesn't).
I'm also an avid gamer. In the land of software--especially gaming software--there's a term: vaporware. It means the software developers are pimping something that isn't anywhere close to being done and may never be done. The longer it takes for the DNA study to be released, the more I'm going to start viewing it as vaporware.
However, there were two prime examples of vaporware in the PC gaming world--Duke Nukem Forever and Team Fortress 2--that were eventually released. Duke Nukem was a huge letdown, but the completely revamped Team Fortress 2 was awesome. I bought it in 2007 and still play it fairly frequently.
So, is the DNA study vaporware? If it takes a long time will the results be worth it?
I have to admit to being interested in this and if it turns out to be nothing but a hoax, I'm probably going to be both angry with myself for entertaining this notion for a second and pissed off at Melba Ketchum and all the "bigfoot" researchers.
-Atheist in FundyLand
-Temporarily Agnostic in Practice Bigfoot Unbeliever
Another hoax?
ReplyDeletePhase 1??? I had no idea there would be phases....I must have missed the memo.
ReplyDeleteShe's sounding more like a media rep for the government every time she says something.
I can just see it...Phase 1 will consist of circular geek talk that really won't mean anything.Questions will be answered with a question.People will get pissed off and it will die a quick death.
"the continued research will go on for years"-translates in to money,money,money and I'm too busy to talk to you.
I think that I'm very much done with her and her minions.
Puzzling indeed. I still hold fast to my theory of a hybrid, and I'm betting the human DNA factor being inclusive is throwing those "in-the-know" off. Great posting and I hope to see some other comments!
ReplyDeleteI agree, CitizenTruth--I am thinking soon someone will come forward with some mylar scraps and bits of wood and claim it was all just a weather balloon. Argh.
ReplyDeleteWhatever, her lawyers and P.R. people so came up with that crap. That's just a way of giving you something without actually giving you anything at all. Vaporware is exactly what this sounds like. I hope that some Joe Nobody stumbles apon a Bigfoot body in the woods "died of natural causes of course" and puts it right out there for the world to see and so nobody can dispute it. Then tell Ketchum and all of them to go pack sand and you shouldn't have screwed off so long. Just sayin
ReplyDeleteCTJ
Wow! I'm famous! ;)
ReplyDeleteHmmm....
ReplyDeleteTo me she seemed clearly to indicate the fact that if this first research is accepted in the large scientific community (hopefully due to the rigorous efforts of Dr. Ketchum and her team in part), that of course there would be additional research after the initial announcement.
I would imagine that there would be a flurry of additional research by other universities and researchers, or, phase 2. It would crack open a currently tightly closed area of study.
I can understand people's skepticism, we've been burned many times, and may be again by this, but I don't think in this instance she's making some opaque reference to a forever drawn out process of press release ready phases by her and her team.
I'm very hopeful about this study, but certainly time will tell...
Yet another personal to buy into the B.S. were forced to deal with in this Bigfoot world.
ReplyDeleteBTW, it wasn't a rant. It was an observation.
ReplyDelete@Atheist Corrected :)
ReplyDeleteIt is a puzzling statement..
ReplyDeleteShe has not denounced the Sierra Kills, nor told us she has actually written a paper...so, could be "I finally got the right raw data"...or "just finished requested corrections from Journal and am resubmitting"?
Or, I just figured out how to really distinguish my samples from human contamination?
Or, expect a press release next week..it's being published soon...sigh....
So yeah, a total non-statement statement, maybe even patronizing..but it is FaceBook and that is a Fan club in some ways...
And not just more wait...but many more years? Perhaps a reference to the launch of Paulides "Sasquatch Genome Project" website still under construction?
Or, perhaps it has taken this long to figure out how to do a "re-do" an notify the appropriate authorities about the Sierra Kills?
Or, she finally got one certain samples genome in Genbank and is going to announce to beat Stubstad who is headed right down the same track?
Or, she was able to file for a patent on a new DNA test she developed to distinguish BF DNA from...other humans or animals...or maybe even a patent on a particular gene removed from the genome?
Humm...so again
vaporware... LOL, Okay I am feeling considerably younger just knowing that word!
Thanks Shawn - for staying on it and the injection of levity..in a tiresome vacuum of vaporware..LOL did I use that right?
it needs something to rhyme with it...
Remember as a kid how long the month of December seemed to last waiting for Xmas- I get the same feeling of nervous anticipation waiting for the Ketchum project. But if you don't get what you want you might just start not believing in Santa (Bigfoot) at all...
ReplyDeleteThanks, Shawn.
ReplyDeleteI honestly hope bigfoot is a reality, but as a skeptic, that means I have to be extra careful. Confirmation bias affects everyone, even skeptics. ;)
@SciaticPain Or in the furry one who (if it exists) descended either from the Homo lineage or perhaps even a robust Australopithecine. :D
ReplyDeleteRemember our bushy little tree? If sasquatch exists, all my money on an offshoot after we developed bipedality but before we lost body hair. Bigfoot got big without the help of gigantopithecus, which was probably not bipedal.
Evolutionary changes in the morphology of a foot to enable bipedality require much more evolutionary time than a simple change in size. Gigantos probably had feet much like those of orangutans: not very good for walking for long distances on the ground.
So Homo or Australopithecus FTW...if there is a win...if this isn't vaporware. *shrug* I guess we'll soon know if it isn't. If it is, it could be years before die-hards stop believing.
Are scientists certain about when we lost our body hair? Seems to me there was some research having to do with body lice and evolutionary molecular clocks. I suppose that will require a Google.
Anyway, a furry offshoot pre-dating naked versions of Homo certainly could have trekked away from Africa. Homo erectus did it. So did the ancestors of Homo neanderthalensis, Homo floresiensis and the Denisovans.
*shakes head woozily* *feels Vicodin kick in*
Remember, I'm your pain pal. ;)
in my opinion this statement contradicts more or less what Ketchum told the world last week.
ReplyDeleteNow I have a lot more hope that we do not have to wait much longer - not for the total solution about the identity of BF (..will go on for years), but the first major step to bring this subject into the mainstream of science.
Sadly the timeline is still a mystery. Is phase 1 already finished (the paper will come out before the end of the year), will it be finished soon (peer review is already under way) or do we still have to wait another 4 to 8 months (final paper will be submitted now)???
I do not think Paulides "BF Genome Project" is a different project from the "Ketchum project" currently under way. In my opinion, the website will just be used to discuss the results of the study and to encourage further research. The fact that Paulides has launched the website right now is another fact that raises my hopes a little bit more.
Best, Joerg
If Dr.Melba has that hunk of Bigfoot Flesh she has all the evidence she needs to prove existance. She is just doting her eyes and crossing her Ts. Getting the Facts Jack !
ReplyDeleteGegen die Dummheit kaempfen selbst Goetter vergebens!
ReplyDeleteI'm a little concerned about Paulides being a creationist. That's the rumor I heard on this site, so it must be true. ;) Just like the "Bigfoot is real" rumor. ;D
ReplyDelete"Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution." - Theodosius Dobzhansky
Seriously, how can a creationist contribute? "Creation Science" and "Intelligent Design" have been laughed out of court repeatedly. It makes my head hurt to think that so many of my my fellow Americans still can't accept evolution as fact.
I'm here to tell you that it can be done. I was raised here in FundyLand, went to a fundy church and school and still managed to think my way out of it.
Any sense I manage to make, biologically speaking, comes from self-study, not from the Christian school and college I attended.
Seems there are two groups here - those that understand the drawn out process involved in getting a scientific paper accepted for publishing in a scientific journal and who know to be patient, and those who clearly have no clue and just want to rant and display their impatience they are no getting what they want now! Every scientist who publishes goes through the same process. For the impatient ranters, recall the old saying about it being better to stay quiet and be thought a fool, rather than open your mouth and confirm it. This is the most important and definitive study on the essence of these animals in history. Surely you can contain yourselves long enough to see what has been discovered. Or is it just easier to act like a 2 year old having a tantrum.
ReplyDeleteMelba Ketchum just released this statement on her facebook page - she is referring to the rumour, that the paper will be published by Nature journal:
ReplyDelete"Somebody commented on this in a blog as a speculation but it is misinformation. The person with the blog ran with it. We are not announcing any potential journal or publication date until we are allowed to do so by the editors of the publication. I will say that our paper is not with the Nature group. What we are currently doing and where the paper is/is not cannot be discussed. Thank you for the interest though. It will come out when it is supposed to come out. I am sure of that and it shouldn't take that much longer.“
they will redeemed by themselves, being released finally, along with obtaining reviews that are positive, although by far the most infamous VaporWare game is usually "Duke Nukem Forever Beta", seeing that I like to call the item, mainly because there is more than a decade due to the fact it's first story, and also the game playing community remains to be waiting around... although everything equates is usually screenshots and a few action video lessons, until now!
ReplyDeleteReally very happy to say, your post is very interesting to read.I never stop myself to say something about it.
ReplyDeleteYou’re doing a great job. Keep it up