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Written by Garry Jacobs, Jonathan Granoff, President and CEO of the World Academy of Art & Science (WAAS), Chairman of the Global Security Institute, and WAAS Board Member;
NEW YORK | March 27, 2024 (IDN) — Oppenheimer’s film garnered worldwide attention and won the top film award. The film tells the fascinating story of an unprecedented world event that changed the course of history and unleashed a veritable Pandora’s box that continues to haunt humanity 80 years later.
Although the film is based on fact and is true to reality in many ways, it does not tell the entire story or convey the full significance of the events depicted, which are as relevant today as they were at the time they occurred. It’s not something to reveal.
The Industrial Revolution was driven by successive stages of technological innovation that drove the transition from manual labor to steam and electricity during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The origins of modern science can be traced back to the beginning of the Enlightenment in the 17th century.th Centuries have passed, but until then the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake has remained in a virtual ivory tower away from academia, with relatively modest impact on daily human life and the destiny of nations. was doing.
It was only during World War II that science emerged as a force shaping the future destiny of nations, humanity, and the planet. As Albert Einstein succinctly put it, “The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything but the way we think. In this way, we are drifting toward an unimaginable catastrophe.” I am doing it.”[1]
This change in “everything” is the central focus and is fascinatingly depicted. oppenheimer. The explosions of the first atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki changed the world almost overnight.
Science as a source of terrifying power
For the first time, science became recognized as a source of incalculable and formidable power, greater than even the most powerful military or the richest economy.
Since then, scientists have been unable to take an isolated position, separate from the destiny of the nation. Their knowledge and inventiveness were too great to be ignored or denied.
Oppenheimer, Niels Bohr, and other scientists involved in the Manhattan Project believed that they were applying their knowledge to save the world from devastation by Germany. Once Germany surrendered, they saw no need to use the bomb and tried to convince President Truman to abandon the plan.
They also warned him that sooner or later Russia and other countries would acquire the same power, triggering a global competition for nuclear supremacy.
After the war in Hiroshima, their continued efforts to promote a global ban on the use of nuclear energy for military purposes were largely ignored, but it eventually led to the establishment of the International Atomic Energy Agency several years later.
film oppenheimer Oppenheimer overlooks one of the great heroes of our time, Dr. Joseph Rotblat. Oppenheimer was vocal about the need for moral and legal limits on the power conferred by modern science. Rotblat withdrew from the Manhattan Project when it became clear that the Nazis would be unable to build an atomic bomb because Britain had destroyed Norway’s “heavy water” facilities that Germany needed.
He informed General Groves, military leader of the Manhattan Project, of this fact, only to discover that the bomb had been built not only to stop the Nazis, but to challenge the power of the Soviet Union. Rotblat believed that if the United States built and used the device, there was a risk of an arms race.
History has proven that his concerns were completely justified. By the early 1950s, Russia and America were engaged in a nuclear arms race, eventually producing more than 70,000 nuclear warheads, enough to destroy humanity and the global environment over and over again.
huge impact
The outbreak of the Cold War and the nuclear arms race had a significant impact on the status of science in the international community. It also led to deep reflection among scientists and a gradual change in the attitude of the scientific community regarding the role of scientists in society and their responsibility for the results of their discoveries.
This culminated in 1955 with the publication of the famous Russell-Einstein Manifesto. Through this declaration, Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell, along with nine other of his eminent scientists, warned the world of the growing dangers of a nuclear arms race.
The manifesto concludes with the following warning: “We, as humans, appeal to humans: do not forget your humanity and forget the rest. If you can do that, the way will be opened to a new paradise. If you cannot do that, the universal The danger of death lies before you.”
A year later, the first International Conference on Science and Human Welfare was held in Washington, DC, to focus on the social responsibility of science and scientists. The conference called for the establishment of the World Academy of Arts and Sciences (WAAS).
Two years later, Polish mathematician Jacob Bronowski published the following paper: science and human values This is a statement and reflection of the growing recognition that scientists can no longer remain isolated spectators in search of truth for truth’s sake.
WAAS was formally established in Geneva in 1960 with approximately 50 founding members, which has gradually grown to 100 and now includes members from more than 80 countries in the natural sciences, social sciences, arts, humanities, and It is home to more than 800 prominent intellectuals from fields such as business, engineering, medicine, and healthcare. other professions. Dr. Robert Oppenheimer and Dr. Rotblat were founding members of this inspiring effort.
Unlike traditional academies of science, the stated purpose of the academies’ founders was not the pursuit of science per se, but rather to be an “institution for the welfare of humanity,” which would seek to utilize science, technology, and other forms of knowledge for well-being. It was to be used as a means to promote happiness. Safety for all humanity.
Since then, the Academy’s work has focused on a range of pressing global challenges, including health, population explosion, food shortages, environmental degradation, war and peace, economic and financial crises, poverty, inequality, migration, refugees, and human insecurity. I have guessed. .
In each case, WAAS has approached the issue from a transnational, bipartisan perspective, seeking solutions that apply to people and nations around the world.
Rather than fragmented disciplinary silos, we approach problems from a holistic, human-centered, values-based, interdisciplinary perspective, combining the objective perspective of science with the subjective insight of the arts and humanities. Integrate.
WAAS recently launched HS4A, a global campaign on human security for all, in partnership with the United Nations Human Security Fund, focusing on the safety and well-being of people, rather than competitive security. We are working to promote a new paradigm in national security. ethnic state.
Human security can only be realized through cooperative security, which puts people’s needs first and collectively addresses global threats, as opposed to the pursuit of military superiority or the daily threat of mutual annihilation. It reminds countries that they too can make their people truly safe.
This is a pragmatic approach that recognizes the impact of science and technology on a global scale and also focuses on local programs that directly respond to people’s needs.
A human-centered approach will combat the next pandemic, halt climate change, protect the environment, and accelerate the natural regeneration processes on which human civilization depends, such as the health of the rainforests and oceans that provide the very oxygen it provides. is realistically necessary. Things that all people need to survive, no matter where they are.
We need to change our perception of ensuring safety by placing more emphasis on the web of life than on the nation’s military power. Only then will science and technology help advance humanity’s “paradise” as the WAAS founders intended.
The HS4A campaign includes collaboration with a wide range of organizations, including the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), a coalition of 180 parliaments. IAP, an organization of 150 scientific academies. SDSN, the United Nations’ global university social network. CTA (Consumer Technology Association) is an organization that includes some of the world’s largest business and technology companies and hosts the annual CES show and more.
Seventy-five years after the first atomic bomb was donated, nuclear bombs remain unboxed, once again threatening the safety of people around the world. And today, humanity faces another existential threat to peace and security: artificial intelligence.
AI is perhaps the most powerful technology humanity has ever developed. It has the potential to solve many of the most serious problems facing humanity today. But like any technology, it is a double-edged sword, both a force for good and a force for destruction.
The challenge facing humanity today is that we must harness the infinite creative power of science and technology for the benefit of all while simultaneously confronting ever-greater threats and ever-increasing uncertainties about what the future will bring. It is a way to control and protect humanity from sexuality, anxiety, and fear.
[1945年と同様、科学者は政策立案者とともに、人類の結末を決定する上で極めて重要な役割を果たし続けるでしょう。
今日、世界中の人々にとってより安全でより良い未来を確保する方法を確実に見つけられるよう、多くの献身的なリーダーや組織が努力しています。 原子爆弾を生み出した科学者たちが平和の道を選択する必要性を理解していたことは注目に値します。 [IDN-InDepthNews]
Image: Socialist Project – Bullet
Related article: https://in Depthnews.net/oppenheimer-brings-the-harsh-reality-of-nuclear-doomsday-warns-un-chief/
IDN is the flagship agency of a nonprofit international news syndicate.
[1] Hypnosiful 22:42, November 7, 2011 (UTC)
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