Pope warns scientists not to risk fate of Icarus

[twilight_sailing]

ROME (Reuters) - Pope Benedict told scientists on Saturday that by believing only in "artificial intelligence" and technology they risked the fate of the mythical Icarus, whose home-made wings melted when he flew too close to the sun.
(snip)
Like his predecessor Pope John Paul II, Benedict is against stem cell technology, which researchers say could help cure serious illnesses but the Church opposes it because it often relies on cells from embryo tissue.
(snip)
"Letting yourself be seduced by discovery without paying attention to the criteria of a deeper vision could lead to the drama the myth speaks of," he told the Pontifical Lateranense University at the inauguration of a new academic year.
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyid=2006-10-22T032828Z_01_L21745170_RTRIDST_0_SCIENCE-POPE-SCIENCE-DC.XML&rpc=92

No offense to anyone intended, but, me, I'll take science.
Religion had thousands of years but their "criteria of a deeper vision"
never came up with anything good like germ theory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germ_theory
did it?

Religion has been terrified of science for a very long time now and so it will remain.

[xchrom]

1. faith shouldn't be based on laws, science or strict adherence

to religious dogma.

faith is flexible -- alive, vital.

the pope should heed his own words.

[Fovea]

2. What book of the bible is that story in?

The answer, of course is that the Icarus Daedalus story is not in the bible at all.

So what is the pope doing using it for a paraclete?
Bizarre...

[Joe Bacon]

3. I wish Eggs Benedict would put on a pair of wings and fly away

Wouldn't hurt me if he flew too close to the son and had the wings melt!

[EstimatedProphet]

4. Why is the Pope quoting Greek mythology?

Isn't that paganism or something?

[Hubert Flottz]

5. Probably spoken into a bank of Shure brothers SM-57 mikes...

hooked up to a fine 1,000 watt electronic PA system...which some demandable scientific minds had dreamed up somewhere along the line. Did he trade his bullet proof popemobile for an ass yet?

[Joe Chi Minh]

6. Yes, Einstein certainly was. Poor sucker...

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

7. Like infallibility isn't hubris

Much less claiming to know the will of all creation.

[survivor999]

8. But Icarus is just a projection

of people's fears of the unknown, not a real story... Like hell.

[bluerum]

9. The pope is a liar. How insane is that. The pope, icon of christian

mythology - simply lies.

[BlooInBloo]

10. Fuck you, pope. What a jackass.

[MindPilot]

11. So ummm, Icarus is a myth

but some guy whose mother was a virgin, died a horrible tortuous death and that will keep people like me from going to hell to spend the life I get after I die if only I believe the story that this same guy will return from the dead a few millennia hence.

Right. Got it. :eyes:

[hedgehog]

12. I think the story of Icarus is a warning not to get so carried away

by the fact that something can be done that we ignore the question of whether it should be done or how something should be done.

Examples:
- Development of nuclear explosives - I can remember when plans were being kicked about to dig a new Panama Canal with nuclear bursts

- Development of nuclear weapons - the cold warriors were so busy building their arsenals that they never stopped to consider what would be left if the bombs were ever used.

- Genetically Modified Organisms - - the focus of discussion has been whether the stuff is safe to eat rather than what the potential effects on the environment would be

- Design and construction of giant fishing vessels - much safer and more efficient than the old trawlers, but they are turning the oceans into a desert

- Design and construction of good roads combined with cheap automobiles - we all moved to the suburbs without considering all the consequences on our quality of life.

- Construction of the Concorde - supersonic travel was so alluring that the governments involved brushed aside the questions of damage to the stratosphere and forgot to check whether it was economically feasible.

[AntiFascist]

13. If the pope is afraid of artificial intelligence research...

then it only goes to show that he himself doesn't understand the nature of real intelligence, including things like spirituality and intuition. This is similar to the fear that discovering that the Earth is not the physical center of the universe might turn people away from the church.

[eppur_se_muova]

14. scientists warn Pope not to risk fate of irrelevance

oops, too late.