On science as the fuel of the world.

Science is THE driving force of the economy. This is subtle, and counterintuitive, but it’s certainly true.

Progress enables new technology, new technology enables new industry, and new industry enables more wealth to be generated.

Otherwise, if there are no new discoveries, eventually the world stagnates, and all activity is just repetition, variation, or improvement of the same old types. Then, the entire world becomes commoditized (offer and demand are only driven by price being cheapest, since all options are the same).

The entire world gets on the race to the bottom.

The world will keep on turning, and if we don’t acquire new knowledge in the process, it will run over us.

For example, there has been no applicable progress in our understanding of fundamental physics since the completion of the standard model of particle physics in the 1970’s, and thus, no fundamentally new technologies have been developed since.

“What about computers?”, some may ask. Computers are based on computation theory (developed around the 1950’s) and quantum materials science (based on simple quantum mechanics, which has been around since the 1900’s). So, you see, computers may seem extravagant, but they are a simple application of 100-year-old ideas!

AI? Just extremely intricate computation and programming.

Planes, cars, and the like? Application of 200-year-old chemistry and thermodynamics!

The last time fundamental discoveries were used was with the construction of the atomic bombs and the development of nuclear power.

What about the breakthroughs in nuclear fusion? They are engineering breakthroughs. Not physics. The basis for fusion has been understood for over 50 years already! And thus, where does the world find itself? In a tremendous crisis.

The 1800’s had steam energy (a by-product of thermodynamics). The 1900’s had electricity (a by-product of the unification of electromagnetism by Maxwell in the late 1800’s), computers (quantum mechanics-born), nuclear power and weapons (quantum), etc.

The modern world stands on the shoulders of scientists. As is clear from the current situation, all industries become overcrowded and commoditized when there are no distinctly new options offered.

The world will only wiggle around until new science is made.