Hello and welcome to the Skeptics Guide to the Universe. Today is Wednesday, September 14, 2005. This is your host, Steve Winovella, president of the New England Skeptical Society.

With me tonight, our Bob Winovella. Hello everyone. Perry, DeAngelus. Good evening. And Evan Bernstein. Hello fellow non-believers.

So we're going to start off with science or fiction tonight. Good start. It's time to play. Science or fiction.

Again, science or fiction, I scour the news for scientific, interesting scientific facts or news items. And then I present three items, two of which are true or real and one of which is false.

The theme this week is early man. These are all the three things when they give you either abilities or technologies or things that early man was doing approximately 30,000 years ago.

That's early. Yes, we're talking about homo sapiens, which is our own species. So by 30,000 years ago, which one of the three things were we not yet doing.

Now of course, the evidence for all of this is mostly inferential. But there is reasonable compelling evidence for the two that are correct.

Okay, you guys ready? Ready.

The first one is footwear. So did humans 30,000 years ago wear footwear? The second one is using fire for cooking food. Not just using fire, but specifically cooking food.

And the third one is the use of transporters. No, I'm kidding. The third one is domesticated horses.

30,000 years ago. 30,000 years. Okay. And I go for its obviously horses. Is that one's the most difficult to believe. There you have it.

Okay, simple enough. Bob.

I don't think I don't think they have footwear. The first thing that comes to mind is a lot of primitive tribes that are extant today.

I don't think they wear anything on their feet. Fire for cooking. My first thought is that they would have had it by then.

Then the domesticated horses, I mean, that seems as too obvious. And maybe that's your whole plan is to make something that's too obvious.

Actually, be the right one.

I always go for the most obvious answer. This is what we're taught by Occam's razor. You know, I might have to go with domesticated horses as well.

All right. Evan.

Boy, they all sound very plausible, don't they? Something I have a feeling it's fire and I don't, the fire one. I don't really know why.

I think obviously I think back to the Flintstones.

Well, I'm just, you know, to put it in that specific context of cooking their food with fire.

That is my second choice. That's a close, that's a close, it's time for a whole world.

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