The emergence of science as a robust and legitimate method of truth-seeking was not visible in real time to those directly responsible, nor to the people whose power would later be upended by its distressing revelations. The slow unfolding of new exponential trends is always obscured by the immediately obvious, always concealed behind the apparent inevitability of the present. Only at a later, accelerating stage does the true nature of a different paradigm reveals itself – impatient and forceful, ambitious and menacing to the old order.
Populist authoritarianism is being fueled at a global scale by exactly this kind of disloyal tendencies: the advent of elegant pattern-recognition math, the scalability of analog computing, the abundance of cheap disposable labor.
History teaches us that when these deep tides finally come to shore, they will disturb the surface: today’s fearsome conspiracy against the weak will come up against a fresh and unforeseen configuration of power. The unapologetic assault on the planet and its resources will be met with asymmetrical resistance, emboldened by the hopeful technologies of tomorrow. The loser now will be later to win.