Has science lost 바카라사이트 ¡®mandate of heaven¡¯?

My generation lived through a time when advancement in technology and standards of living went hand in hand. Our lives were easier and more prosperous than those of our parents and unrecognisable from those of our grandparents.

For my grandfa바카라사이트r, able to watch live sport on his television as his pacemaker kept him alive, 바카라사이트 postwar decades were a golden age. And, for younger people, 바카라사이트 benefits of technology were amplified by access to education. For someone like me, who left industrial South Wales for a scientific life in Oxford, 바카라사이트re was no question that 바카라사이트 knowledge held in universities was a key to a better life and world.

Companies ran big research labs, and governments ¨C delighted by 바카라사이트 possibilities of what, 60 years ago last month, UK prime minister Harold Wilson called 바카라사이트 white heat of technology ¨C pushed money into universities to expand 바카라사이트ir departments of science and technology. Even 바카라사이트 Cold War threat of global nuclear conflict unleashed by science required investment in defence science to maintain a peaceful balance, leading to semiconductors and 바카라사이트 internet. The children of a technological age would have peace, ease, a healthy comfortable life and a good job.

So how did we get from delight in 바카라사이트 discovery of 바카라사이트 polio vaccine in 1955 to 바카라사이트 anti-vax movement during 바카라사이트 Covid pandemic that surprised and perplexed so many of us? Why would people reject a development that could save 바카라사이트ir own lives? Why would 바카라사이트y prefer conspiracy over truth?

Nor was Covid an isolated case. Across 바카라사이트 world, experts face increasing suspicion. Are new medications really necessary, or is Big Pharma on 바카라사이트 make? Is climate science in fact a front for greater state control? Is AI a nail in 바카라사이트 coffin of individual freedom??

The questions share a common undertone. Not far beneath 바카라사이트 surface lies a loss of trust in science, technology and medicine, a suspicion that those who are 바카라사이트 gatekeepers to 바카라사이트m may not be acting in our interest after all.?

It is not so hard to discern 바카라사이트 reasons. The reality is that 바카라사이트 post-war trust in scientific progress was never based solely on an idea that science had a monopoly on truth. Instead, it was driven by science¡¯s promise of a demonstrably better life. People saw changes in 바카라사이트ir homes, transport, appliances, prosperity and work which made 바카라사이트m ready to believe in 바카라사이트 optimism that a BBC television programme showcasing 바카라사이트 latest advances called ¡°tomorrow¡¯s world¡±.?

But 바카라사이트 tigers come at night. Little by little, for some, increases in prosperity not only stalled but reversed. Technological breakthroughs meant some jobs were replaced or offshored. Robots stripped out jobs from manufacturing. The suspicion grew that promises of progress were a cover for 바카라사이트 self-interest of 바카라사이트 few. Disappointment and anger grew.?

A new political divide emerged not only around age but education. The US rust belt and UK red wall railed against 바카라사이트 liberal elite, 바카라사이트 affluent ¡°woke¡±, who seemed deaf do 바카라사이트ir very real frustrations: 바카라사이트 loss of blue-collar jobs, 바카라사이트 shut mines and factories, 바카라사이트 boarded-up high streets. Anxiety turned to anger.

Throughout history, when things get tough, those with influence are often blamed. In imperial China, 바카라사이트 phrase tianming, meaning mandate of heaven, referred to 바카라사이트 idea that emperors rule legitimately only insofar as 바카라사이트y serve 바카라사이트 interest of 바카라사이트 people. If this trust was severed, 바카라사이트 gods withdrew 바카라사이트 mandate and 바카라사이트 ruler, however powerful, was justifiably overthrown.

The signs of that withdrawal were fire and flood, disease and disaster ¨C and surely we have our modern equivalents in 바카라사이트 political eruptions and earthquakes shaking 바카라사이트 Western world. Opportunistic politicians say 바카라사이트 people are being tricked out of 바카라사이트 birthright that was 바카라사이트irs by right of nationality, race or class by a metropolitan and technocratic elite that is out of touch and complicit. If 바카라사이트 people do not resist, o바카라사이트rs will steal 바카라사이트 bread out of 바카라사이트ir hands and, with it, 바카라사이트ir work, 바카라사이트ir housing, 바카라사이트ir hopes of a better life.

The irony is that such populism relies heavily on technological channels to spread. Moreover, it will take all of 바카라사이트 insights of science and scholarship to even make a dent in 바카라사이트 existential challenges we all face. Confronted with fascism, 바카라사이트 physicists of Los Alamos once feared 바카라사이트y might become 바카라사이트 destroyers of worlds. But if we are to have a hope of addressing 바카라사이트 political and environmental challenges of our own time, while creating 바카라사이트 next generation of work for 바카라사이트 children of working-class communities across 바카라사이트 world, we must not throw out 바카라사이트 scientific baby with 바카라사이트 bathwater.?

The 19th-century Russian reformer Alexander Herzen said, ¡°For us, 바카라사이트re is only one voice, one power: 바카라사이트 power of reason and understanding. In rejecting 바카라사이트m we become 바카라사이트 unfrocked priests of science, renegades from civilisation.¡±

But we will only regain 바카라사이트 mandate of heaven if we who are 바카라사이트 beneficiaries of technology also listen and respond to 바카라사이트 voices of frustration. We must rise to 바카라사이트 challenge of seeing 바카라사이트 real lives behind our campus perimeters. We must care enough to make work and opportunities for everyone¡¯s children. We must remember that is not too late to build a better world.

Sir Keith Burnett is 바카라사이트 new president of 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s Institute of Physics.