Archer W.: How did the nuclear bomb change the way people viewed science?
Joel Achenbach: A single bomb, dropped from a plane wiped, out an entire city, killed a hundred thousand people—just annihilated it. That did precipitate the surrender of Japan and the end of World War II. I think it was a pivotal moment for how people thought about science, because science had long been viewed as a force of improving lives, saving lives—you know: antibiotics, penicillin, power, electricity to the rural parts of the world. Here was something that was just fundamentally quite horrifying. Although, in general, we appreciate science as a way to get knowledge about the world, knowledge about nature, there is a legitimate question about how will science be turned into new technologies? Do we want that? Will that make our world a better place?
Archer W.: Thank you, Joel. That was Joel Achenbach from the newsroom of The Washington Post.
