Avi – all my posts were in reference to the OP with Rav Kook’s opinion. I deliberately didn’t say anything about other opinions. I realize that there may be other opinions, but I don’t know enough about the subject so I didn’t want to discuss it, and I was just discussing Rav Kook’s opinion, as quoted here.
I do know that it’s a controversial topic, so I do feel that until I know definitively that I am allowed to believe that Chazal could be wrong about a scientific matter, I am not allowed to believe so. At best I could believe that there may be such an opinion, and it may be possible that I am allowed to believe such a thing, but m/w I am not allowed ti until I know for sure that that is the case.
Regarding your sources, until I look them up myself in the original Loshon Hakodesh, I also do not feel that I can rely on them. And even if I were to look them up, I would need to know what the Gedolim of today say. There may be opinions in the Rishonim that we do not hold by, or that aren’t relevant for us, etc.
I know enough to know that it is a very complex, controversial topic, and the fact that there are Rishonim who said this may not necessarily mean that it is okay for me say it. It is more complicated than that.
I’m not saying you’re wrong – just that I don’t know enough to have an opinion on it one way or another, and until I know differently, I am concerned that it may be problematic for me to be mekabel the other opinion on this.
Obviously, when it comes to specific halachic issues, everyone has to ask a reliable Rav. So far, I haven’t come across any such issues, so there are no practical ramifications for me at the moment.