Why do we fear Nuclear Energy? - looking at its link to Alchemy and the Scientific Revolution
how the dual imagery of good and evil got associated with nuclear energy | why do we fear nuclear energy
This reading is part of a series: On Nuclear Fear
Ideas can exert great influence, and past ideas have impacted society in both good and terrible ways. As a result of their impact, views are attached to the ideas. And by depicting them in art and in stories - in order to preserve them, the ideas and the associated views are transformed into imagery that forms a core part of any culture and society. When we discover a new idea, we perceive it by linking it to the old ideas we are constantly exposed to and which are firmly held in our minds. And in this linking, we also link the imagery associated with the old ideas to the new idea. Of course, new ideas are adopted, and stale ideas get abandoned with time, but some ideas stick firmly. For nuclear energy, it is important to trace the ideas that have been associated with science and progress over the last four centuries since the Scientific Revolution and eventually trace those ideas further back in time to alchemy, a branch of natural philosophy - the precursor to modern science. How have the old ideas and the related imagery come to be associated with nuclear energy, and what have been the consequences?