Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"Some SF readers will insist that 1000 years from now there will be no organized religion, and hence the Reverend character in this strip is a horrible anachronism. Let's look carefully at the issue, though. We shall assume, for the sake of argument, that religion is adopted by the foolishly optimistic, in an effort to answer the unanswerable questions. A thousand years from now science will have made quantum leaps forward (actually, quanta are quite SMALL... pour THAT over your cheerios and smoke it) discovering unifying principles of matter, energy, time, and space, as well as meta-behavioral principles of advanced sociology, psychology, and several unpronounceableologies. In spite of that, there will probably still be unanswerable questions. Of course, it goes without saying that a band of soldiers, facing death on a regular basis, would long for some sort of religion.

"Now, some folks will try to tell us that in 1000 years science and society will have made SO much progress, and will be SO understanding of the human condition, that there will be no need for religion as we know it--even for low-IQ, highly violent types like mercenaries, professional sportspersons, and art critics.

"Hmmmm. That sounds 'foolishly optimistic' to me."

-- from the comic strip Schlock Mercenary by Howard Tayler, author's note below the strip for 2000-11-17

[It may be worthwhile to point out that when Mr. Tayler includes notes like this, they generally extend the comedy of the strips they're attached to -- even when they're educational and include math -- rather than shifting the tone into an academic register. Consider this a clue as to his 'tone of voice' in the passage quoted here. (For example, see the note for the 2000-12-03 strip.)]