That other Pontiff has declared that he “believes in evolution.” Am I the only one who read “[reclaim] a dimension of reason we have lost” and thought of string theory? (That’s a joke peoples, so don’t get your stringy hair in an uproar!)
O brave new quantum world!
he also declared that evolution cannot be proven and therefore is not a complete, scientifically proven theory. pope benedict xvi noted that we cannot haul 10,000 generations into the laboratory.
Oh dear, that was silly. Just as he obtains the opportunity to use a Quantum Earth as an argument for a more Godlike emergent evolution, he throws it away!
I found what Benedict said pretty irritating. (Quelle Surprise!) Re “evolution cannot be proven,” Sean Carroll’s recent post at Cosmic Variance says it better than I could: http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/04/11/what-i-believe-but-cannot-prove/
“Proven” is an overloaded construct. It is both obvious that evolution cannot be “proven” and that evolution has been “proven.” The pope also cannot prove the moon is not made of cheese because he has not been there, so I’m hoping for a statement about what kind of cheese it is made of soon.