For the record, and right up front, the Czar is a significant proponent of evolutionary theory. For him, the evidence is overwhelming and consistent.

But when Richard Leakey says that the debate will soon be over, the Czar rolls his eyes. Where have we heard that before?

Well, right here: global climate change. And lest you think this is merely far-fetched paranoia on our part, Leakey adds:

If you get to the stage where you can persuade people on the evidence, that it’s solid, that we are all African, that color is superficial, that stages of development of culture are all interactive, then I think we have a chance of a world that will respond better to global challenges.

Evolution isn’t a global challenge, so he must surely be talking about climate change.

The Czar raises his hand, and he wishes to speak; and you had best give us permission, because you do not want that hand to come down hard.

What Leakey is saying is that the science is settled. The debate is over. The whole thing is 100% clear.

And Leakey is, despite his education, still quite ignorant.

Science is a process, dude. To say science is ever settled is to say evolution is a done deed and it’s over. There is no provision in evolutionary theory that is so rock-solid that some scientist in 5, 10, or 500 years will say “Well, that’s mostly correct, but….”

And for Leakey, an anthropologist, to use this as fodder for proving something totally unrelated within climatology is just fatuous. The science is never settled there, either: there is always more data, more observations, more tests, and more improvement of understanding. Leakey has nothing to say about climate change other than to express his personal opinion, much as the Czar is.

“But he’s a scientist,” say the whiners, “and therefore perfectly qualified to render a secure statement.” But no scientist would ever say that. No scientist would ever dismiss further inquiry. A real scientist would ask (a) who settled it, (b) how good is the data, (c) can it be reproduced, and (d) whether its settlement is itself testable.

This is pure political BS and nothing more, and is no more interesting or noteworthy than Ashley Judd’s hysterical diatribe against Sarah Palin the Wolf Butcher. A dumb, ignorant statement trumped up to sound way more than it is. Leakey, alas, ought to know better.

And if he is so certain that evolution is settled, then it makes little sense for anyone in anthropology to continue searching for bones in the African sands. Of course, the Czar is not nearly an expert in anthropology, so perhaps he shouldn’t speak in disciplines in which he does not concentrate.

Also, scientists were pretty clear that Newtonian physics were a settled science, too. Ask Einstein how that turned out.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.