Christopher Nolan on Oppenheimer and the responsibility of technology creators
Jeffrey Brown:
The first atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, ending the war, though debate has continued whether Japan was already set to surrender.
The final death toll, uncertain as well, was at least 200,000. Oppenheimer was left a public hero, a world-famous figure, but one racked with doubts about what he and his colleagues had done. He would argue against the creation of the even more powerful hydrogen bomb and, amid the toxic Cold War brew of the 1950s, see his loyalty challenged, and, in a final humiliation, have his security clearance revoked.
Nolan is well aware of contemporary resonances, including the advent of A.I., a potentially world-changing technology unleashed without an understanding of potential consequences.
Do you worry that history is repeating itself?
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