Frank and Ernest by Thaves for August 26, 2010

And it only took until 1992 for Pope John Paul II to declare that the ruling against Galileo was an error resulting from “tragic mutual incomprehension.”

Galileo was a genius and never received grant money to prove a theory. Today a lot of loot is given to a group of scientists to “prove” something the money givers want them to prove. Let’s see, I get millions if I say Global Warming was caused by man. I get nothing if I say it is natural. Oh it was caused by man. Where’s my money?

Oh, the Ice Age ending? Man overcooking Mammoths.

No, we’re not discounting the SUN as a possible source of all heat on earth, but it is a wild theory.

Just get a better A/C system.

The difference between the 21st and the 17th Centuries is that it is now the scientific establishment who persecutes those who question their entrenched beliefs.

Right on, dsom8! F & E have the honesty to refer to “global warming theories,” in place of the dogmatic intolerance of the Gore worshipers.

RC: “Rational” is hardly a word to apply to the French Revolution. The mass murders should have been a clue.

Now, “Rationalistic” I could agree with. The pseudo-rational approach of Descartes corrupted French thinking for centuries, from their admiration for the “scientific” guillotine, to Napoleon’s belief he was enlightening Europe by conquering it, to their futile faith in the Maginot Line, to the gloominess of Existentialism. But reason has nothing to do with any of it. That’s what happens when you disconnect reason from the world; it stops being rationality and becomes rationalization.

As for atheism, it is a cause of nothing, only an effect. It can be for good, rational reasons or bad, irrational reasons. French atheism wasn’t so much philosophical as anti-clerical for the part the Church played in maintaining French feudalism.

I’d also mention that body counts are not arguments for or against the truth of a view, but the contrast between slaughter and reason IS.

(Pretty heady stuff for a mere Frank and Ernest cartoon, but once you see how the world is ruled by philosophies, good or bad, you can’t help seeing their effects everywhere.)

Radish: Ideas changed the world more than technologies. The wrong ideas can stifle any technology; look at Afghanistan for just one example.

Back then, the Earth was heading for another ice age, in the slow natural course of things. It wasn’t until the industrial age that things began to go the other way. Theories? After this summer, what with the warmest July on record and all the hydrocarbons released by the BP well, no serious person can call it a theory anymore. Global warming is as certain as the Earth going round the Sun.

I know it’s just a cartoon, but everyone is being really philosophical, so when in Rome… Both the earth revolving around the sun and global warming have scientific proof. “lewreader”, I hope you’re being sarcastic because the sun at last check wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary. It’s just CO2 in the air that is trapping the sun’s heat. As for the science vs. religion debate that was exemplified in the strip, they’re just different ways of finding truth. And if we’re worried about being rational, SQUARE ROOT OF 2!!!

baslim_the_begger said, about 16 trials ago

Yeah, the Inquisition obviously thought burning at the stake was going to improve matters. An attitude that seems to be present in the political forums even today…

No account of the trial I’ve read even suggests that was a possible outcome. Galileo got into trouble when the Church was facing its crisis of science: the scientific view it had based much of its understanding on (Aristotelian) was being replaced by a newer science (Copernican), and, like most institutions, it took time to come to terms with the change. Much as, say, Fundamentalist Evangelical Churches currently have difficulty accepting Evolution. And the punishment was only being put under house arrest and having his future publications monitored by the Church. Which is serious enough, but not burning at the stake.

RCMinor: NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition! Except when they say they aren’t as a deliberate reference to Monty Python, in which case they clearly expect it.

dsom8: Yes, those poor people being oppressed by the scientific community by… um… being told they’re wrong? Being asked to buy eco-friendly products? Totally comparable to being imprisoned by the church.

Too much to comment on here, so I’ll just remark on “Jason Fox”s comment “the sun at last check wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary.”

Actually the sun as been at a historical sunspot low for several years now. The implications of this for the earth’s climate are widely debated since the historical evidence shows that nature’s own processes, including the sun’s several cycles, are sufficient to cause wide-spread climate change completely apart from human activities. If you don’t know about the Medieval Warm Period, the Little Ice Age, and the Maunder Minimum, you should look them up.