Physics in Populist Cultures: The Hard Lessons We Need To Learn

A populist revolution began more than half a dozen years ago and culminated in the election of Donald Trump in 2016. I will link its evolution to the impacts of science and technology on jobs, as well as income and opportunity disparity; the role of tax policies and regulatory practices that reinforced the technological impacts; the capacity of information technology to fan the populist flames; and finally the accelerating pace of technological change that has been so unsettling for most Americans.\\ \\As physicists, we're in for very challenging times that go far beyond Donald Trump. I began calling attention to the issues in the aftermath of the 2010 election and more pointedly after the 2014 vote. My audiences at universities and national laboratories, I think never fully grasped how fast the world was changing and what dangers for science were becoming increasingly evident.