Say what you will about his politics, but William Jennings Bryan was a sublime orator. In the closing argument (that never was) of Scopes, Bryan wrote:
“Science is a magnificent force, but it is not a teacher of morals. It can perfect machinery, but it adds no moral restraints to protect society from the misuse of the machine.”
If not for the success of Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project, there’s a good chance I would not be typing this post. After years of combat in the Aleutians, my father would have been among the first wave of the invasion of Japan. There are gross estimates of 400 to 800 thousand US deaths and millions of civillian casualties before Japan would be bludgeoned into surrender. Thankfully, Truman used the device and he was able to come home. Despite its destruction, at the end of the day, it saved many more lives than it took, including mine and the untold millions of sons and daughters that would never have been born.
For me, Oppenheimer’s quote “And now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds” is misplaced. That beast was unleashed a long time ago.
Oppenheimer’s bomb did not cause Russia, Europe, China and the United States to all choose the path of demographic collapse combined with festering societal inequality. Decades of selfish, shortsighted leadership brought us to this precarious point.
In the zero sum battlefield of WWII, incendiary bombs killed (incinerated, to be precise) far more civilians and indigenous military targets in Japan than the two relatively primitive nuclear bombs. Presentism foolishness aside, casualty-weary America was relieved the bombs accelerated Japan's surrender.
All of this led to two profoundly great expressions of American's cultural superiority and intrinsic goodness: We occupied Japan and restored her to a wonderfully functioning nation (and Germany to some extent), and we have been profoundly moral stewards of atomic warfighting technology. We have never resorted to nuclear warfare ever since.
I look forward to seeing the movie, but with a heavy heart. The development of the atom bomb opened up a new world of uncertainty and, with the proliferation of nuclear weapons, some in the hands of unstable regimes, a world tiptoeing on the edge of disaster. Simply put, we face a real threat of nuclear war as Russia, Iran, and North Korea, in particular, play nuclear brinksmanship to achieve political ends, a dangerous game where a mistake could bring on nuclear war. Whether such a war could be limited to the battlefield is doubtful, and no country, no matter how powerful or developed, is prepared for mass destruction of its population centers. Putin, Kim, and the ayatollahs may believe that their regimes can survive the holocaust intact, and that's the real threat.
I am reminded of the great creative power of the scientific mind that naively builds incredible technology that is eventually twisted by politicians and despots for nefarious purposes. Think social media, internet, nuclear energy, airplanes, computers. All great ideas, meticulously perfected and perverted towards evil.
Oppenheimer is a necessary story... but also an old one. The Apple in the Garden and the Tower of Babel; the Promethean Fire, Icarus' Wings, and Pandora's Box; Faust and Frankenstein; 2001, Jurassic Park, Gattaca, The Matrix, etc. etc..
We're always trying to play God, convinced our ingenuity is powerful enough to contain the forces we arrogantly unleash. In the words of a band named after a Cold War spy plane, "How long must we sing this song?"
I'm going "Woke" for the moment. Imagine a movie where a white male actor portrayed Martin Luther King, Malcolm X or Jackie Robinson. In the Manhattan Project the number of Jews was astounding. The majority of the scientists were Jewish. Almost all of them were German, Hungarian or Austrian refugees. The list included: J. Robert Oppenheimer, Edward Teller, Leo Szilard, Otto Frisch, Neils Bohr, Felix Bloch, Hans Bethe, John von Neuman, Rudolf Peieris, Franz Simon, Hans Halban, Joseph Rotblatt, Stanislav Ulam, Richard Feynman and Eugene Wigner. Enrico Fermi wasn't Jewish but he left Italy to save his Jewish wife. In this movie there's not one Jewish actor. If you believe that the creation & use of the Atom bomb wasn't necessary or was criminal view photos of the tens of thousands of young marines floating in the water or lying dead in the sands of Iwo Jima or Okinawa. Imagine Nazi Germany with a Nuclear weapon.
Nice review of a relevant movie such as "The Sound of Freedom". Oh yeah, thefp won't cover a $100M successful - and very relevant to the connected insiders - movie...
I was surprised by how resonant the movie was regarding cancel culture, due process, basic rights. The tribunal sneering that Oppenheimer didn't have rights because he wasn't really on trial is so redolent of Title IX courts or HR proceedings or online cancellations. The "offense archaeology" of digging through all his past associations. The cynicism of his enemies.
Given how long it takes to make a movie, it's hard to imagine that Nolan was consciously intending to make some kind of commentary on the Twitter Files, etc., but it sure felt like he did.
But the big question is: Why this story? And why now?
I would think the answer is pretty obvious...
Because NOW people have become skeptical of scientists, scientism and government. What better way to reclaim their loyalty than to wave the flag of potential annihilation and remind everybody that the government is the good guy!
Was hoping for a review, but....well, this article doesn't really say anything. Okay, the movie's apropos. And there's a lot of flowery language to support that. But is it good?
I mean, it's Nolan, so--yeah, it's good. We didn't really need your review to know that. But we didn't need what you gave us, either. If you'd at least given us a review, then maybe I wouldn't have felt like your philosophic meanderings wasted 5 minutes of my life.
Say what you will about his politics, but William Jennings Bryan was a sublime orator. In the closing argument (that never was) of Scopes, Bryan wrote:
“Science is a magnificent force, but it is not a teacher of morals. It can perfect machinery, but it adds no moral restraints to protect society from the misuse of the machine.”
“The threat of a nuclear war is as significant right now as at any time since the Cuban Missile Crisis”
——————————————————-
It needs to be said that this is because of the Donbas Region and Hillary Clinton. Are there dumber reasons to start a nuclear war?
If not for the success of Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project, there’s a good chance I would not be typing this post. After years of combat in the Aleutians, my father would have been among the first wave of the invasion of Japan. There are gross estimates of 400 to 800 thousand US deaths and millions of civillian casualties before Japan would be bludgeoned into surrender. Thankfully, Truman used the device and he was able to come home. Despite its destruction, at the end of the day, it saved many more lives than it took, including mine and the untold millions of sons and daughters that would never have been born.
For me, Oppenheimer’s quote “And now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds” is misplaced. That beast was unleashed a long time ago.
Oppenheimer’s bomb did not cause Russia, Europe, China and the United States to all choose the path of demographic collapse combined with festering societal inequality. Decades of selfish, shortsighted leadership brought us to this precarious point.
“A nascent Iranian nuclear program could produce a bomb on short notice”
—————————————————-
*Democrat-backed, antisemitic, Jeremiah Wright-inspired Iranian nuclear program
In the zero sum battlefield of WWII, incendiary bombs killed (incinerated, to be precise) far more civilians and indigenous military targets in Japan than the two relatively primitive nuclear bombs. Presentism foolishness aside, casualty-weary America was relieved the bombs accelerated Japan's surrender.
All of this led to two profoundly great expressions of American's cultural superiority and intrinsic goodness: We occupied Japan and restored her to a wonderfully functioning nation (and Germany to some extent), and we have been profoundly moral stewards of atomic warfighting technology. We have never resorted to nuclear warfare ever since.
I look forward to seeing the movie, but with a heavy heart. The development of the atom bomb opened up a new world of uncertainty and, with the proliferation of nuclear weapons, some in the hands of unstable regimes, a world tiptoeing on the edge of disaster. Simply put, we face a real threat of nuclear war as Russia, Iran, and North Korea, in particular, play nuclear brinksmanship to achieve political ends, a dangerous game where a mistake could bring on nuclear war. Whether such a war could be limited to the battlefield is doubtful, and no country, no matter how powerful or developed, is prepared for mass destruction of its population centers. Putin, Kim, and the ayatollahs may believe that their regimes can survive the holocaust intact, and that's the real threat.
I am reminded of the great creative power of the scientific mind that naively builds incredible technology that is eventually twisted by politicians and despots for nefarious purposes. Think social media, internet, nuclear energy, airplanes, computers. All great ideas, meticulously perfected and perverted towards evil.
Oppenheimer is a necessary story... but also an old one. The Apple in the Garden and the Tower of Babel; the Promethean Fire, Icarus' Wings, and Pandora's Box; Faust and Frankenstein; 2001, Jurassic Park, Gattaca, The Matrix, etc. etc..
We're always trying to play God, convinced our ingenuity is powerful enough to contain the forces we arrogantly unleash. In the words of a band named after a Cold War spy plane, "How long must we sing this song?"
I'm going "Woke" for the moment. Imagine a movie where a white male actor portrayed Martin Luther King, Malcolm X or Jackie Robinson. In the Manhattan Project the number of Jews was astounding. The majority of the scientists were Jewish. Almost all of them were German, Hungarian or Austrian refugees. The list included: J. Robert Oppenheimer, Edward Teller, Leo Szilard, Otto Frisch, Neils Bohr, Felix Bloch, Hans Bethe, John von Neuman, Rudolf Peieris, Franz Simon, Hans Halban, Joseph Rotblatt, Stanislav Ulam, Richard Feynman and Eugene Wigner. Enrico Fermi wasn't Jewish but he left Italy to save his Jewish wife. In this movie there's not one Jewish actor. If you believe that the creation & use of the Atom bomb wasn't necessary or was criminal view photos of the tens of thousands of young marines floating in the water or lying dead in the sands of Iwo Jima or Okinawa. Imagine Nazi Germany with a Nuclear weapon.
Nice review of a relevant movie such as "The Sound of Freedom". Oh yeah, thefp won't cover a $100M successful - and very relevant to the connected insiders - movie...
I was surprised by how resonant the movie was regarding cancel culture, due process, basic rights. The tribunal sneering that Oppenheimer didn't have rights because he wasn't really on trial is so redolent of Title IX courts or HR proceedings or online cancellations. The "offense archaeology" of digging through all his past associations. The cynicism of his enemies.
Given how long it takes to make a movie, it's hard to imagine that Nolan was consciously intending to make some kind of commentary on the Twitter Files, etc., but it sure felt like he did.
The book the movie is based on, American Prometheus, is great. Can't wait to see the movie -- hopefully on IMAX.
How many were killed by Covid 19 as opposed to by the two bombs over Japan?
But the big question is: Why this story? And why now?
I would think the answer is pretty obvious...
Because NOW people have become skeptical of scientists, scientism and government. What better way to reclaim their loyalty than to wave the flag of potential annihilation and remind everybody that the government is the good guy!
Go Democrats!
Go fuck yourselves!
Was hoping for a review, but....well, this article doesn't really say anything. Okay, the movie's apropos. And there's a lot of flowery language to support that. But is it good?
I mean, it's Nolan, so--yeah, it's good. We didn't really need your review to know that. But we didn't need what you gave us, either. If you'd at least given us a review, then maybe I wouldn't have felt like your philosophic meanderings wasted 5 minutes of my life.