"Believe" doesn't seem to be used in the sense of arbitrary belief here; it's used more in the sense in which something is expected to be the case with less tha

"Believe" doesn't seem to be used in the sense of arbitrary belief here; it's used more in the sense in which something is expected to be the case with less than conclusive proof, such as how I believe that the weather is pretty much the same as last time I looked out the window. With that in mind, I would actually expect the opposite trend: for belief to grow at a faster rate than proof. Historically, answers have normally led to more questions.