Everybody seems to have a post about the pope, so here is mine.

The Pope and Climate Change, Biodiversity, Inequality, Technocracy, Anthropocentrism: He has a lot to say on all of these topics. Here is just a short quote:

We have the freedom needed to limit and direct technology; we can put it at the service of another type of progress, one which is healthier, more human, more social, more integral. Liberation from the dominant technocratic paradigm does in fact happen sometimes, for example, when cooperatives of small producers adopt less polluting means of production, and opt for a non-consumerist model of life, recreation and community. Or when technology is directed primarily to resolving people’s concrete problems, truly helping them live with more dignity and less suffering. Or indeed when the desire to create and contemplate beauty manages to overcome reductionism through a kind of salvation which occurs in beauty and in those who behold it. An authentic humanity, calling for a new synthesis, seems to dwell in the midst of our technological culture, almost unnoticed, like a mist seeping gently beneath a closed door.

The Pope, Philadelphia, and The Sharing Economy. He’s coming here in September. Philadelphia is a city of 1.5 million people, and nobody knows exactly how many additional people we need to plan for. Here are some facts and figures:

• In 1979 , John Paul II attracted 1.2 to 2 million people. However, he made stops in half a dozen U.S. cities, whereas Philadelphia is the only stop this time.
• John Paul II drew 1 million in Rio and 4-5 million in Manila. Francis has drawn 3 million in Rio and 6 million in Manila.
• The 2008 Phillies World Series victory parade drew 420,000 to 750,000.
• Obama’s inauguration drew 1.8 million to D.C., which they pulled off without major incident.
• The U.S. Secret Service will protect the Pope while he is here.
• The Philadelphia government, after refusing to either legalize or enforce against Airbnb for several years, has realized they can legalize it and tax it for this event, and make a fortune.
• Rick Santorum, prominent science-denying Catholic presidential candidate from Pennsylvania, says the pope should “leave science to the scientists” and focus on things like morals. The pope has not responded to Rick, but he appears to see a connection between morals and not destroying our home planet.